Plastic bottles are valuable materials that are recycled and reused by businesses a lot closer than you may think! Plastic bottles made of PET (Polyethylene), like those used for water, soda, vegetable oil, and soap, are used to make synthetic fibers in North Carolina!
Second Life of a Plastic Bottle
Solid Waste Services takes your recyclables to the Sonoco Materials Recovery Facility, where plastic bottles are sorted into bales. Unifi, a synthetic textile company, buys the PET bales. At Unifi's Bottle Process Center in Reidsville, NC, bottles are washed and chopped into PET flake. The PET flake is taken to the REPREVE Recycling Facility in Yadkinville, NC, where it's melted into synthetic fiber and used in clothes, rugs, car interiors, and more!
Plastic Bottle Recycling Tips:
- Keep the lid on empty bottles! Plastic caps are too small to be recycled on their own.
- Crush the air out of your plastic bottles, put the cap back on, and then recycle. Reducing the amount of air in plastic bottles helps you fit more into your blue recycling cart.
- Don't put your recyclables in a plastic bag. Plastic bags are not recyclable and can get tangled in the machinery.