Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Facts About Polyethylene Terephthalate

By Lenna Stockwell


While the name polyethylene terephthalate is probably unfamiliar to most people, the products made out of this thermoplastic polymer are very common. Here is some basic information about this widely used type of plastic about which you might not be aware.

As a kind of polyester, PET is actually the most common polymer in the polyester family. It is the kind of thermoplastic that is a polymer which when exposed to heat at a particular temperature becomes "moldable." It is rather easy to find thermoplastic that may be in different types and the most commons ones are used for custom thermoplastic packaging which includes retail product packaging, food packaging that is custom-made and several other custom product packaging for the medical industry as well as the agricultural industry.

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.

The sails for sailboats are amongst the other products created from PET although in this case it is known under the brand name of Dacron. Many other kinds of polyester clothing are made from Dacron. It is possible in fact that both the water bottle and a piece of clothing be made from polyethylene terephthalate even when the polymers being processed go through different ways as each case may call for.

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.

PET bottles are chopped up into flakes the moment they enter the recycling process and then later reduced into becoming really small pellets. What is produced can then be used to make polyester threads for the manufacture of fabric and carpeting. Recycled PET is also used in order to create strapping, new bottles as well as other plastic products.




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