yup, thats true for all metals I think. Interestingly, I just learned that metal alloys such as steel are not considered chemical compounds but homogeneous mixtures. Steel is a mixture of steel and carbon kind of like mixing chocolate and milk to form chocolate milk. There is no chemical compound formula for steel.

source is in German so I can't really respond to it. Are they cleaning and reusing the bottles or creating new bottles from the first generation of PET bottles? This is still usually downcycling unless they are adding new plastic to recycle the old plastic. The 2nd generation of bottles can't be recycled in the same way as the first generation. I believe you can only do this only a few generations at most without adding new plastic material.

Less that 30% of plastic bottles are "recycled" in the US, but technically most of them are "downcycled", which means they are being turned into lower quality forms of plastic. The idea of an infinite loop plastic recycling is a myth because unlike metal, plastic loses quality every time it is processed until it is unusable.

Single serving plastic bottles should be almost entirely replaced with aluminum cans, which are infinitely recyclable.

Johnston & murphy, the shoe company, makes great leather belts. I have 3 and they all have held up great while looking good.

hands down