Recycled polyethylene terephthalate blends and composites: Impact of pet waste, engineering design, and their applications

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the major polymers produced and has been widely used in downstream industries, such as the production of textile fibers, packaging bottles, and films. The increased use of PET is associated with its excellent properties, which include thermal resistance, lightweight, high transparency, good impact, and relatively low cost. This indirectly contributes to a large amount of PET solid waste, which is detrimental to human life and exacerbates environmental issues. As a result, conversion to new PET blends and composites is an efficient method to recycle PET and reduce waste. While research in this area is ongoing and improving with the development of new materials for various applications, its commercialization has yet to begin. This chapter focuses on the designation of recycled PET and its performance as new blends and composites. Among the other topics discussed are PET waste sources, recycling methods, and applications, as well as the challenges of recycling PET and converting this solid waste into value-added products. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.