When do you think the plastic milk bottle started its life?

Plastic is made from oil and oil was created a long long time ago (about 300 million years ago) in the Carboniferous Period.

So the oil that this milk bottle is made from lay under the ground for 300 million years until humans dug it up.

We dug the oil up with drills that use lots of ENERGY.

Then we transport it using more energy until it gets to.....

.... the oil refineries.

The oil refineries then treat the oil using lots of energy so that

	some of the oil can be used for making petrol,
	some of the oil for making heating oil for houses,
	some of the oil for making washing powder,
	some of the oil for making plastic,
	and some of the oil for making lots of other things besides.

The part of the oil that is used for making plastic is taken in big tankers using lots of energy to the factory that makes the plastic. The factory treats the oil using lots of energy and turns it into plastic pellets

Big trucks, using lots of energy, then take the bags of plastic to the factory where they make milk bottles.

The workers in the factory tip the bags of plastic pellets into big machines that make the milk bottles, this uses lots of energy.

Then, even bigger trucks take the empty milk bottles,
using lots of energy, to the bottling plant.

The machines fill the bottles with milk (using lots of energy) and then

Trucks take the bottles of milk (using lots of energy) to the supermarket.

Mr & Mrs Jones travel to the supermarket in their car (using lots of energy) to get their shopping.

They BUY A BOTTLE OF MILK with their shopping and take it home.

Then they take the empty bottle and.................... THROW IT IN THE BIN.....!!!!!

.....the bin men come and take all their rubbish and bury it in the ground....

What a sad end for the plastic milk bottle - and all the energy that went into making it!

If only we could recycle that plastic milk bottle it would save digging up the oil..

AND save all the energy that went into making it..

AND fill up less holes..

AND save money..