With reference to polyethylene terephthalate, the use of which is so widespread in our daily lives, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above are correct?

Answer: (a) 1 and 3

Blending and recycling are right.

Statement by statement

1. ✓ CORRECT PET (polyester) fibres are blended with cotton and wool.

2. ✗ WRONG PET is not suitable for every alcoholic drink — it lets gases pass and can affect the contents during storage; spirits and wine are usually kept in glass.

3. ✓ CORRECT PET bottles are widely recycled into fibre and new bottles.

4. ✗ WRONG Burning PET releases CO₂ — a greenhouse gas.

The idea

PET is polyester. The same plastic is drawn into thread for cloth or blown into bottles. It is a thermoplastic: it softens on heating and can be reshaped, which is why it can be recycled. It is made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, so burning it must give carbon dioxide.

Used bottle is collected → Washed and shredded into flakes → Melted → Spun into polyester fibre or made into new bottles

The trap

“Any” and “without” — the absolute words.

Elimination technique

Statement 2 says “any alcoholic beverage” and statement 4 says “without causing greenhouse gas emissions”. Absolute words usually mark the false statement in Environment PYQs. Dropping both leaves only (a).

Also know

PET carries recycling code 1. Polyester clothes shed tiny fibres in the wash, a major source of microplastics in water. In 2016 scientists in Japan reported a bacterium, Ideonella sakaiensis, that can digest PET.