Question: Why it there different types of plastic used in bottles? What makes some plastic bottles reusable and some only usable once? What makes the plastic toxic after certain amounts of use. 1-7

Malgorzata Dabrowska answered on 26 Nov 2020:

Hi K.a.Kareem,

Each plastic has different properties, purpose of usage and different strength. Companies can of course choose what they’ll be using, but it is also a matter of financial side of the whole production process. The theory is that it’s possible to process each plastic, but in practice we are not doing it because a) it costs more money for some type of plastic then production of new plastic b) material is loosing its properties with each processing c) we are still lacking a knowledge and technology to process plastic endlessly, what again, in theory is possible. Imagine that we are actually reusing around 20% of produced plastic, horror! It is very sad for me, that we invented plastic partially also to protect forests, but now to not use plastic we are coming back to paper bags, straws etc. It’s all going to some werid direction. However, there are also good things, like giving plastic a second life and creating from it banches in parks, furnitures or clothes. It is more and more popular to have shoes made from processed plastic. This way of reusing the material is very clever. Although before buying something: make always a good research in the topic. For example some sweatshirts made from reusable plastic after washing are “creating” some microfibers, which are harmful for our health. Still, I never herad of plastic becoming toxic after certine amount of usage.