Argentina's National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI) has approved a technique for manufacturing food containers from recycled plastic bottles. The institute advised the Ministry of Health in adapting an internationally accepted technology that has never been used in Argentina, INTI engineer Alejandro Ariosti told Tierramérica.

Now plastic containers that have been thrown out will be sanitized, melted and sold to be mixed with “virgin” materials to manufacture new containers for food and beverages.

Until now, bottles from soft drinks and cooking oils made with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were rendered and used to make textiles, but its safety for re-use as food containers had not been proved.