PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2020

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 06/20 www.petpla.net 28 From PET to protection against coronavirus A drink anytime, anywhere. Easy to go, easy to dispose of. The drinking bottles at hand do not only characterise city scenes and cultural events but are also a synonym for our consumer society. Worldwide, more than 22 million tons of PET bottles are currently being produced (trend + 4% per year) and today only around half of these drinking bottles are taken to the recycling process although it is simple and sensible to give a used bottle a second life. Recycling Special For example, the recycling process can save up to 70% of water compared to new produc- tion and reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 50%. Furthermore, the recy- cling saves crude oil and consumes approx. 45% less energy. In the event of proper disposal an already used PET bottle can be used in a more versatile way than almost any other product. It can serve as a raw material for new products such as textiles (approx. 48%), new bot- tles (approx. 27%) and sheets (approx. 18%). Next to the existing applications, there are new ways to make life a bit safer and more comfortable. Espe- cially in a difficult time as we are in now, the advantages of PET material are obvious. Sheets made from recy- cled PET are protecting our food and give them a longer life which helps us to deal with the increased time at home. Invema, a PET recycler in Central America, collects millions of beverage bottles, recycles them and produces 100% food-grade recycled PET sheets. These sheets are used for food packaging and in the face of this health crisis against the actual coro- navirus, further ideas arise which has launched the initiative of building face shields as a humanitarian response against corona viruses. The protective face shield project now called Invemask, helps protect the face, eyes, nose, mouth and ears and is exclusively for bio sanitary use. Designed to be a support weapon to prevent the spread of corona viruses anywhere in the world. Invema cur- rently works only with 100 of the more than 300 people it has on its staff. This work team is totally focused on the production of 100% recycled PET sheets following their transformation to the food-grade packages (lu´um) and face shields (Invemask). Invemask is an example that recy- cling helps the world and that projects like this are part of a practical and sus- tainable circular economy, where the range of CHT Group products help to ensure an optimal quality and the nec- essary technical results for the sheets