Plastic, recycling and fuel, explained.
Plain-language guides to PET plastic, recycling data, plastic-to-fuel technology and the enzymes that break plastic down. Every number is sourced.
What does the 1 on a plastic bottle mean?
The number in the triangle is a resin code, not a recycling promise. What #1 PET is, where it goes, and why the symbol confuses people.
Read the guideThe U.S. PET bottle recycling rate: the latest numbers
30.2 percent in 2024, down from 32.5 percent. The full numbers, the six-year trend, why it dipped, and what deposit states do differently.
Read the guideCan plastic be turned into fuel?
Yes, three ways: pyrolysis, gasification and depolymerization. How each works, which plastics it suits, what it costs, and the carbon-credit question.
Read the guideEnzymes that eat plastic: PETase, FAST-PETase and what comes next
From a bacterium at a Japanese bottle recycler to machine-learning-designed enzymes. What works, what doesn’t yet, and who is scaling it.
Read the guideWe turn PET plastic into ethanol.
See how the process works, what the lab has shown on real bottles, and what comes next.