The most efficient way to maintain the environment would be to stop using PET bottles, according to Chou Chun-ti, chairwoman of the Conservation Mothers Foundation in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. She also claimed that it is a mistake to describe PET bottles as one of the most environmentally friendly containers just because they are 100 percent recyclable.

Although PET is fully recyclable and can be used for manufacturing new products in many industrial areas such as cosmetics, high-quality carpets, plastic wrap, car spare parts, hypo-allergic pillow fillings and fabrics, it is energy-consuming to recycle PET products, Chou went on.

According to Environmental Protection Administration(EPA) statistics, the volume of recycled PET reached 80,000 tons in 2004.

The volume of recycled PET increased to 81,000 tons in 2005, to 91,000 tons in 2006 and 97,000 tons in 2007.

As a 600 cc PET bottle is made of only 20 grams of PET, the 6,000 tons of additional PET recycled during the one-year period between 2006 and 2007 means that people in Taiwan consumed 300 million more PET bottles in that year.

Lin Chien-huei, an EPA Recycling Fund Management Board official, said that the more PET is recycled, the more PET bottles are used, which he described as being increasingly far away from the spirit of garbage reduction.

PET bottles are responsible for environmental disaster but is clothed with a coat of environmental protection, Chou argued, saying that few people refrain from buying PET bottles of soft drinks because they know they are recyclable.

Although the EPA has done a great job in recycling, it is wrong that the administration is not trying to discourage people from using PET bottles, Chou said.

Only when the recycled PET volume is reduced to 40,000 tons or 30,000 tons a year while the PET bottle recycling rate is maintained at the level of 100 percent will there be "true protection to the environment," according to Chou.