Recycling of Plastic Bottles<br />By <br />Asst. Lect. Rand Fadhel<br />Plastic bottles make life so much easier. They are lightweight and easy to hold, and they are strong and hard to break. A plastic bottle is the best way to contain and carry many kinds of liquid, from water and soft drinks to oil to household cleaners and baby formula. When that handy container is empty, it will hurt the environment.<br />Since the 1970s, people who care about the environment and the health of our planet have been worried about how to dispose of plastic once it has been used. Today, about 60 million water bottles are thrown away every day in America, and it can take up to 700 years for just one plastic bottle to break down in a process called biodegrading, which is also the process that happens when a piece of fruit rots. These bottles fill up our landfills, and we need landfill space to bury trash that cannot be recycled. Throwing away plastic also hurts the environment in other ways. As plastic decays, it can give off chemicals that get into our water and air and can make people, plants, and animals sick.<br />To solve these problems, people have worked together to develop a process to recycle plastic bottles and convert them into other useful items, including clothes, furniture, fences, and new plastic bottles, bags, and containers.