PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate, aka Polythene)
From carpets to cosmetics, PET is everywhere. Clear and tough, it is one of the standard materials for hundreds of types of products. Part of the polyester family, which also includes PBT and PETG, it is crystal clear and impervious to water and CO2, which makes it ideal for packaging fizzy drinks. In these applications it is often extruded with other materials to form material sandwiches to increase its properties, for example in packaging beer, where oxygen scavenging layers are used in between the PET to stop oxygen getting in or out.
Since the early 1970s, when the first PET bottle was patented, there have been other developments, including the use of a green colouring system that borrows the ...
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