Just Exactly Where Do Down Cycled Plastic Bottles End Up?

Recycling is a great way to give the things we throw away everyday a second chance at life. That plastic water bottle from your lunch or your day out can be down cycled into something else, while the morning’s newspapers get turned into cardboard boxes. But not all recycling is created equal: while we throw glass, metals, plastics, and paper into the same green bin, the process of recycling each of those material is pretty different. This slow destruction of materials and the subsequent production of lesser quality goods is known as down cycling.

No matter what’s being recovered, the basic idea of recycling remains the same: to break down finished products into their basic parts and then to use those materials to make new things. For some items this process can be repeated indefinitely plastic, on the other hand, is much less durable and can only be recycled a finite number of times and eventually those fibres will have to be disposed of.

Plastic, however, never biodegrades, which is why down cycling is an even bigger concern when it comes to this environmental menace. The polymers that make up plastics can only be reused a few times before they’re too degraded for further use, and very few plastics can be reclaimed for their original purpose. Instead, Plastic bottles end up as lower quality items. Even worse, down cycled plastic products will frequently require extra treatment and are not themselves recyclable, that soft drinks bottle can be turned into carpet fibres, but carpet fibres can’t be turned back into water bottles. This means that plastic may start its life as a bottle of water in your fridge, but if recycled it will most likely eventually end in a landfill.

In an ideal world we would all drink tap water and use bottles for life, but the reality is that modern lifestyles are driven by convenience and the ability to make choices on the go this is proven by the vast amounts of bottled waters brought each and every day throughout the world. Eco for Life® Bottled water is about giving consumers the option to make sustainable choice when it comes to bottled waters. A PLA bottle is simply a better choice when it comes to your health and the Environment.

Eco for Life® is an amazing product, the bottles are made 100% from plants, some key points.

Bottle made 100% from plants from an annually renewable source, not made from finite fossil fuels like PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles
The bottles are therefore chemical free, no chemicals in them to leach into the water
The bottles are made from PLA (polylactic acid) which is obtained from the dextrose in plants
Production of PLA produces up to 60% less greenhouse gas than production of PET – every 24 PET bottles made contains 1 litre of oil!
Numerous end of life options for disposal including waste to energy, composting and incineration with production of energy.
Filled with the finest UK Spring water bottled at source in the South Downs near the Hampshire border

Bottled water is an everyday essential and consumers want a more environmentally friendly option and Eco for Life® is a fantastic alternative to plastic bottles in the market in the UK and Europe.

Eco for Life® offers something truly exceptional for the discerning consumer of bottled water – high purity, naturally calcium-rich mineral water in durable biodegradable bottles. Good for the planet and good for everyone’s daily hydration regime. Neither our bottle nor our caps contain PET