Recylced Polyester (rPET) | Sustainability of Polyester Recycling
Polyester is one of the popular man made fiber which is used 49% in garment industries. Like 100% polyester made fabric, blended fabric like TC, CVC or TR are still famous in the current world.
What is Polyester or Virgin Polyester?
What is Polyester or Virgin Polyester?
Polyester is a synthetic fiber that is synthesized from crude oil or petroleum products which are commonly known as ethylene glycol, dimethyl terepthalate and mostly from polyethylene terepthalate (PET) which is the most common class of plastic in the in the world. It is all around a polymerization process. It is used in clothing to reduce the price, make more durable, wrinkle free appearance, high strength and more resistant. The other advantages of polyester garments are easy to clean and dries quickly. But the garment made of polyester is not environment friendly and it is notorious for many reasons.
The main reason that is harmful for environment is the production process of polyester fabric involves consumption of huge quantity water, chemicals, dyes and energy resources. Thus the water level is reduced, cause to increase the global temperature due to high energy requirement and discharging polluted chemical mixed water into the adjacent water bodies which is harmful for flora and fauna. Also the raw materials and their by products are toxic that pollutes the water and air which are the reason of many diseases.
This artificial fabric is non biodegradable and also less comfort in comparison with cotton due to not presence of breath-ability.
What is Recycled Polyester?
Recycled polyesters are made from the plastic bottles that are used for water, juices, oils or soaps. Here, the main raw material is PET and after recycling it is known as rPET. In most of the plastic bottles we find a mark with he number "01" inside the triangular symbol for recycling along with the acronym "PET" below it. It means the PET can be recycled to produce further polyester material.
The process of Polyester Recycling:
- The collected PET bottles are sorted by color such as to make white polyester yarn separate transparent bottles and for blue separate the blue bottles.Then they are sterilized, dried and crushed into small chips passing trough a grinder.
- The chips are then heated and dried to avoid any moisture. After that they are passed through a spinneret to form the filament of polyester fiber.
- The filaments are then strengthen and wounded up in spools.
- Need to give some texture on the filament is the next process which makes the fiber fluffy.
- Then the filaments are dyed or colored.
- Then they are baled and made ready for weaving and knitting.
Sustainability of Recycled Polyester:
The process Polyester Recycling requires less energy which is supposed to be 50-60% than the production process of virgin polyester. This is the huge difference between Recycled Polyester and Virgin Polyester. Also the consumption of water, chemical and dyes are very less for rPET. Also using rPET reduces the dependency on petroleum which is the main raw material of polyester. Converting the PET bottles into rPET reduces landfill and thus less soil contamination, air and water pollution.
Since PET bottles are non biodegradable products the Recycling process gives a second life to the material. According to the NGO: Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter into the ocean each year and on top of that the approximate 150 million metric tons are currently circulated in marine ecosystem. If it continues, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic has been found 60% of all the sea birds and 100% to the turtles as they frequently mistake to take plastic as food. Thus, the thinking of sustainability to make rPET is very much required to save the whole environment and specially the marine ecosystem.
The other benefits of Recycles Polyesters are the quality which is similar to the virgin polyester. The production process of rPET reduces 32% Carbon Dioxide(CO2) emission. According to the "Textile Exchange" , the PET can be recycled again and again without hampering its quality though recycling from blended polyester fabric is still a challenge. 100% polyester made fabric can be recycled without deteriorating its fiber quality.
Also we should understand the recycling of polyester has its own limit whereas blended polyester more difficult and in some cases not possible to recycle them. People can think that plastics may be recycled again and again but each time plastics are heated thus the subsequent iteration of the polymer is degraded and the plastic must be used to make low quality product. Though recycled polyester takes almost 59% less energy than to produce virgin polyester but it still takes more energy than both organic and conventional cotton, hemp and wool.
The process Polyester Recycling requires less energy which is supposed to be 50-60% than the production process of virgin polyester. This is the huge difference between Recycled Polyester and Virgin Polyester. Also the consumption of water, chemical and dyes are very less for rPET. Also using rPET reduces the dependency on petroleum which is the main raw material of polyester. Converting the PET bottles into rPET reduces landfill and thus less soil contamination, air and water pollution.
Since PET bottles are non biodegradable products the Recycling process gives a second life to the material. According to the NGO: Ocean Conservancy, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter into the ocean each year and on top of that the approximate 150 million metric tons are currently circulated in marine ecosystem. If it continues, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastic has been found 60% of all the sea birds and 100% to the turtles as they frequently mistake to take plastic as food. Thus, the thinking of sustainability to make rPET is very much required to save the whole environment and specially the marine ecosystem.
The other benefits of Recycles Polyesters are the quality which is similar to the virgin polyester. The production process of rPET reduces 32% Carbon Dioxide(CO2) emission. According to the "Textile Exchange" , the PET can be recycled again and again without hampering its quality though recycling from blended polyester fabric is still a challenge. 100% polyester made fabric can be recycled without deteriorating its fiber quality.Also we should understand the recycling of polyester has its own limit whereas blended polyester more difficult and in some cases not possible to recycle them. People can think that plastics may be recycled again and again but each time plastics are heated thus the subsequent iteration of the polymer is degraded and the plastic must be used to make low quality product. Though recycled polyester takes almost 59% less energy than to produce virgin polyester but it still takes more energy than both organic and conventional cotton, hemp and wool.
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