July 29th With news of Pensacola eliminating/charging for recycle

thought it would be good to remind people about one use refillable water bottle versus..

“The MVP of the recycling system, polyethylene terephthalate is marked with a 1 inside the looping arrows. PET is used to make soda and water bottles, other bottles and containers for everything from mouthwash to peanut butter, as well as some types of plastic toys. It's the perfect material for recycling easily cleaned, lightweight, can be turned into transparent plastic-and is the most-recycled plastic in the world. For this reason, we're ranking it the least-least recyclable material-you're welcome, PET!

But careful! Just because PET is ultra-recyclable doesn't mean it's sustainable. Only 30% of plastic bottles are recycled in the U.S., and most of those bottles aren't made into other bottles but are "downcycled" into lower-quality items-most of which can't be recycled again. And since the recycling process degrades the quality of the plastic, even if these bottles are made into new ones, there's only so many times you can recycle one Coke bottle before it's downcycled into an item headed for a landfill.”

Two sites on the east end of Pensacola Beach saw 20 volunteers brave the heat to pick up 143 lbs of trash from the parking lots at Park East & Dog Park East. Brings July total to 1,927 lbs!