recycled plastic (PET) bottles #6620

• PET = polyethylene terephthalate, a term unknown to 99% of the North American public. We call them plastic bottles.

Note how everyone has carefully removed the plastic shrink wrap, removed the plastic screw cap, rinsed the inside, and crushed the bottle to save space. (sarcasm: See photo link below.)

Update (2007/09/25)

Stores go through the motions, but aren't really interested in recycling. They and their suppliers want the conveniences of PET bottles over bottles and cans: lighter, one-way (no deposits in Japan), burnable.

First of all, the bin capacity is a mere fraction of the daily sales. The stores want buyers to take the bottles away and discard them in the street, a river, a highway divider, or household trash.

My city (Setagaya) supplies the bins and collects the contents. Other municipalities have other ideas—the most popular being just burning them. My dive trips to Izu involve toilet breaks at various convenience stores in Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures.

And what happens after collection? After these recycling systems were installed with much fanfare, TV and magazines carried shots of mountains of plastic bottles dumped in the backwoods. (They are NOT biodegradable.) There just isn't that much of a market for recycled PET. Besides, as this photo shows. The "recycled" bottles aren't ready for processing.

• ペットボトル(petto botoru) = "plastic bottle"
↑ PET = polyethylene terephthalate, a term unknown to 99% of the North American public. We call them plastic bottles.