Key ideas: technical texts 5

A Brand New Life

1. Plastic water bottles are made of a material called polyethylene terephthalate. PET for short. PET products are hugely popular. People around the world use 100 billion pounds of PET products every year!
2. So, what happens to all those plastic water bottles? Hopefully, you recycle them! But what happens after you drop your bottle into the recycling bin? Perhaps you’ve imagined a big factory where all the old bottles are washed and refilled—but that’s not it at all.
3. After arriving at a recycling facility, the plastic bottles are first sorted by color. Next, they go through a washing process that removes the labels and caps. Then they’re shred up into very small pieces (called flakes) and washed a second time. After a thorough drying and heating process to eliminate any contamination, the flakes are ready to start their new lives. Only about one-fifth of the flakes go on to live another life as a new bottle. The rest are made into totally new products, from carpets to packaging, and maybe even the shoes you’re wearing!
4. Sadly, though, many plastic bottles don’t receive this chance at a new life. When bottles aren’t recycled, they will go to a landfill as trash, where it will take up to 500 years for them to break down and decompose!
5. So the next time you find yourself with an empty water bottle in hand, consider your choices. Why not give your water bottle a chance at a whole new life by recycling it?