Every person reading this has used a plastic bottle, many of whom likely used one in the past day or week. Plastic, in the recent decades, has become a staple of convenience and a modern lifestyle.

Plastic water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved PET for single and repeated use, so that's a good sign.

The U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate held steady at a little less than 29 percent in 2018, according to new industry figures. That's either evidence of industry resilience in a tough economic ...