Recycled plastic is today not only common, but also desired by industries and consumers.
But have you ever wondered how and when plastic recycling was born?
Today we take for granted the process that leads an old plastic product to be recycled and transformed into a new object, but it has not always been so.
Although the era of mass plastic began in the 50s, for many decades no importance was given to the idea of recovering the raw material used, as was done for some time with glass and aluminum.
It was only thanks to the pressure of the first environmental movements that, in the 70s, we began to talk about plastic recycling. However, the available technology was not sufficient to guarantee an effective and economically sustainable recycling process.
Despite early attempts, such as the first recycling site built in Pennsylvania in 1972, in fact, throughout the 70s and 80s most plastic waste was still burned or ended up in landfills.
It is only at the end of the 80s and then in the 90s that plastic recycling has turned into a real industry capable of sustaining itself and giving life to a virtuous recycling chain.
A gesture that you consider normal, that of putting for example a PET bottle in the plastic container, is the son of a long history made of requests for a cleaner environment and an industry that has been able to adapt by finding the technological solutions to achieve them!If you are interested in the world of recycling and eco-plastic follow us on our social channels.
