Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Facts About Polyethylene Terephthalate

By Lenna Stockwell


It may be something new to most people to hear about "polyethylene terephthalate" but when you learn about the products made out of this thermoplastic polymer you'll discover it is common. If you want to know some basic information about such a commonly used plastic, read on.

PET is actually a type of polyester and the most common type of polymer in the polyester family. This is a type of thermoplastic, which is a polymer that you can mold once it is heated to a specific temperature. There are many types of thermoplastic and many are used to create custom thermoplastic packaging for a variety of uses, such as retail product packaging, custom food packaging and other types of custom product packaging.

Also commonly known as PET or PETE, polyethylene is mainly used in making food, beverages and liquid containers. PET is commonly used to make majority of the water bottles and soda bottles too. Since it is water resistant it can hold liquid effectively hence manufacturers turn to use this plastic for such. Transportation is easier and cheaper because it can be quite lightweight.

Other products created by using PET include the sails for sailboats, although in this case the product is usually called by the brand name Dacron. Dacron also is used to make all sorts of polyester clothing. While both a water bottle and a piece of clothing can be made from polyethylene terephthalate, although the polymers are processed differently depending on what products will be made.

While majority of the thermoplastics are recyclable bottles made from PET are the most commonly recycles kind of thermoplastic. Their resin code is either of 1 or 01. It is easy to find recycling centers around the country accepting the bottles and containers with such resin codes.

Upon entering them into the recycling process PET bottles are being chopped up into flakes where from being flakes then they are reduced into really small pellets. Polyester threads can then be made out of this which is consequently used for making fabric and carpeting. Strapping, new bottles and some more plastic products we use are made from recycled PET.




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