eco-fi

There is a new company I was made aware of through the crafting arena that is making fabric from recycled plastic bottles. Eco-fi (formerly known as ecospun) produces high quality polyester fiber made from 100% certified recycled plastic PET bottles. This fiber can go onto become textile products such as clothing, blankets, carpets, wall coverings, auto interiors, home furnishings and craft felt. It can also be blended with other fibers such as cotton or wool. As we’re all trying to be more eco-friendly I think this product really shows how recycling those bottles can make a difference!

How it’s made

• Plastic PET containers are picked up at local community recycling centers, then sorted by type and color.
• The containers are stripped of the labels and caps, washed, crushed and then chopped into flakes.
• These tiny plastic flakes are then melted and processed to create fiber. The fiber is then manipulated into the desired length for strength and baled.
• The fiber can then be processed into a fabric for a variety of end use textile product.

Fabrics made from Eco-fiber are nearly identical to those made from non-recycled fiber. However the Eco-fi is made without depleting the Earth’s natural resources! Imagine the oil this process saves! Naturally the recycling process has some environmental impact but no more than would occur if the fiber was non-recycled. Some processing still has to happen to get the end product, with the recycling you simply take out the initial steps.

The Eco-fi website states that 10 bottles equals approximately 1 pound of fiber! Considering that 2 million plastic bottles are used in the US every ten minutes and 51 billion plastic bottles end up in landfills each year, this is a huge market opportunity for recycled fiber! That 51 billion plastic bottles in the US landfills, laid end to end would wrap around the earth 5 times! We have the ability to reduce this number considerably. Initially by not using plastic bottles, but when we do it is so important to reuse and recycle! Companies like Eco-fi are leading the way by creating a manufacturing opportunity with the recycled containers, let’s give them the containers to use instead of them ending up in landfill! I love the products page of their website (snippet above) which shows the amount of bottles required to produce certain end products. People need the visualization to inspire them to recycle. Imagine if recycling were mandatory? If a sweatshirt take approximately 17 bottles according to their site, then imagine the possibilities with the 51 bottles in the landfills each year!!!

Recycled eco-friendly products have certainly become a hot topic and I have more companies and products to share with you in future posts!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles