<\/p>\n\n\n\n Long ago, civilizations grew up around rivers and moving waterways, which was the easiest way for civilizations to grow. Those rivers became their source of water and agriculture, but it also became their garbage can. The waterways became their sewer. In some places, they even put human remains in that water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast forward to today, and the island of plastic that you see floating in the middle of the ocean is what\u2019s left of what they dumped in the rivers, and continue to dump in the rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If there\u2019s a silver lining to the ocean plastic problem, it\u2019s that the plastic left in the ocean from those rivers can be removed. The rest of the stuff that was thrown in the water is already gone (it\u2019s been absorbed into the environment). It\u2019s unfortunate that it was put into the ocean in the first place because it has no business being there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The planet has been blessed to have resourceful people who are retrieving that plastic, but collecting it out of the ocean is not a long-term solution to the plastic problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been a lot of ideas proposed to solve the plastic problem. Some people have said that we should eliminate plastic, or eliminate single-use plastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Single-use is decided by the consumer. It\u2019s decided by the person using it. It\u2019s not decided by the plastic. Banning plastics altogether would create more problems environmentally than it solves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a society, we have to be careful in terms of where we put our focus and what has to change in order to deal with the plastic problem. A great example is that silent island of ocean plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer in my opinion is PET. You\u2019ll probably ask, \u201cYou\u2019re telling me that plastic is the solution to the plastic problem?\u201d The answer is yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PET is a major component of the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The faster and the more thoroughly we migrate to PET, the better off we will be. We need to move our plastic containers into the circular economy. Conversion to PET is the vehicle to do that \u2013 now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The circular economy is the recovery and reuse of resources with supporting, self-sustaining economics. We need three things to make this happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The First Thing We Need is a Recoverable Resource<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A recoverable resource is a resource we can capture and reuse. We have that in PET. We\u2019ve got that in universal curbside programs everywhere. Everyone understands what it means to recycle a plastic container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have resin identification codes (1-7) on the bottom of each plastic bottle. Those codes help direct that container to the appropriate channel for recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What people don\u2019t realize is that in the PET recycling technology today, we can get a nearly endless cycle from that same pound of plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is existing technology to take that plastic back to monomer, back to its base ingredient. Then make it clean material again, and put it right back into the system to make another bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, we can recycle the same pound of PET essentially endlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"plastic-problem-in-ocean-bottleone\"](\"https:\/\/bottleone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/plastic-problem-in-ocean-bottleone-1024x694.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLet Me Explain\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How Do We Keep Plastic from Getting into the Ocean?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is the Solution to the Plastic Problem in the Ocean?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What is a Circular Economy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n