How Coke and Pepsi bottles are turned into your pillow

Did you know that mineral water bottles and other plastic soda bottles like those we see of Coke and Pepsi have purposes after they are used as water carriers as well? The bottles that we throw away after using are collected and recycled. Now, this is something that some of you might have already known. But what happens exactly? This is for all those curious enough to question beyond the environmental protection taglines.

Have you noticed the stuffing in your pillow or in the mattresses? It is soft but it isn’t always Cotton. The material that we find in these stuffing is Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF). This is a man-made fibre that is produced from monoethylene glycol (MEG) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA).

Owing to the sustainability movements that are now being followed in every industry, changes are made to these materials in order to make them reusable as parts for another final product. What earlier used to be made from virgin raw materials is now gathered from recyclable materials. This is where the mineral water bottles and other plastic soda bottles come into picture. Let’s simplify.

The polyester waste that is generated from the used plastic bottles becomes the raw material. Since these bottles are practically non-biodegradable, they need to either be put to some use or simply be dumped. It is quite difficult to dispose them with 100% guarantee of safe environment. These materials end up harming environment in one way or another. Hence, it is better to find an alternative use.

How is it Done?

These bottles are thoroughly cleaned using hot and cold water and further sterilized to get rid of harmful germs. Materials like iron, stones, PVC, etc are ideally removed in this stage of the process.

Then they are crushed and converted to post-consumer waste or PET, i.e. the scraps of the bottle (bottle flakes). This makes the Recycled Polyester Staple Fibre (rPSF). These flakes are then washed again in Sodium Hydroxide. This is inherently done to remove any stains of glue from the bottle and acts as an added layer to security for decontaminating the material.

Now, these flakes are vacuum dried to soften and crystalize them. Further, these flakes are sent for spinning and the outcome is what we call rPSF. This rPSF is then finally used to make the stuffing in pillows and mattresses. Could you ever imagine that what you are sleeping on once used to be a water or soda bottle?

This material is also utilized in cushions, automobile apparel padding, etc. Although, as the application varies, the characteristics of the material will also vary. For example, nonwoven solid fibre is used for home furnishing and automobile apparel padding whereas super high tenacity material will be used for sewing and industrial threads.

The processing is quite strong and effective. Recycling of materials is done with utmost care and precision to make the best raw materials out of final, used products that are good enough to be reused.

Anil Associates / Anil International are one of the most prominent Recycled Chips & Yarn Suppliers from India. We would be glad to get your feedback on the above.