Plastics, downcycling and climate change

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore a jacket made from recycled” plastic bottles in Parliament.

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The jacket manufactured by Indian Oil Corporation Limited LOCL) under an initiative called Unbottled’ has been made from 20 PET bottles according to the company It was also announced that IOCL will recycle 100 million PET bottles annually to make fabric, and the jackets will be available at retail outlets of oil marketing companies OMC) such as IOCL, BPCL and HPCL.

Recycling is a good thing as it reduces waste and minimises pollution; however, it is important to understand that these jackets are not recycled but down cycled. Recycling converts a material into something of roughly the same value as it originally was. Metals, aluminium, and glass are materials that recycle well, as they can be recycled many times while the resulting material will still be of equal quality.