What It Is
Recycled polyethylene terephthalate, most commonly sourced from used beverage bottles and reprocessed into new bottles, textiles, or packaging.
Sustainability Context
Using rPET avoids new fossil-fuel extraction for virgin plastic and gives collected plastic a second life. It does not solve plastic pollution on its own, and quality degrades with each recycling cycle, so most rPET still eventually reaches a landfill or incineration end point rather than being infinitely recyclable.
Tradeoffs
- Lower carbon footprint than virgin plastic production per unit.
- Diverts collected plastic waste from landfill for at least one additional use cycle.
- Not infinitely recyclable; fiber and quality degrade over repeated cycles.
- Depends on functioning local collection and recycling infrastructure to source the input material.
Best Use Cases
- Packaging and textiles where the alternative is virgin plastic, not a genuinely reusable or plastic-free format.
- Products designed for a long single use-life rather than repeated recycling.