ES FABRICS FROM REWARE:
MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT RECYLING

Did you ever wonder where your recycled soda bottles go?

For most of us, the thought never crosses our minds; we just put the bottle in the Recycling bin and move on. But those bottles matter in the world…they're an excellent source of plastic that can be recycled, and the "polymer" they contain can be used in a wide range of products over and over again.

PET - AND WE DON'T MEAN YOUR CAT FLUFFY ::

When two chemicals are combined at a very high temperature, they form a new chemical known as a polymer. Plastics are polymers and there are a wide variety of options. The chemical name for the polymer used in our bags is Polyethylene Terephthalate, or PET. PET is used for making everything from umbrellas, to those polyester jumpsuits the Elvis used to wear, to critical medical equipment.

And of course on of the largest uses is for soda bottles.

NEW AND USED ::

Even today most fabrics are made of virgin PET, or plastics that have never been used before. However, in the 1980s when interest in recycling plastics led to the development of a recycled polyester fiber the chemistry geeks around the world were very excited about. The most common and successful use of this technology has been the creation of Fleece. You probably have a fuzzy jacket from Patagonia in your closet now, or a blanket on the couch. This led to outdoorsy folk, who were sick of being cold all the time, joining the chemistry geeks in hearty song (This is not confirmed, we just assume).

While fleece might be all the excitement you can bear, another cool use for recycled PET is in the woven fabrics we use for many of our bags (and this is where we break into song ourselves...or at least force the interns around here to do so for our utter enjoyment). This recycled fabric has stronger tensile strength than normal fabrics, is soft to the touch, rugged, and just as waterproof as traditional nylon.

THE MAKING OF A RECYLCED FABRIC ::

How does this fabric come together?

The process is very similar to making new fabrics...with a twist.

When woven fabrics are made from recycled PET, the first step is collecting used PET containers. Fabric manufacturers buy bales of recycled bottles from vendors or from municipal recycling projects - Essentially all the bottles you put in the recycling bin times 1000!

How cool is that?! The bottle of Jolt cola you just slurped down will someday be part of the bag you are about to buy from us. See what we did there? This is called subtle marketing. But we digress...

The bales of bottles are emptied onto a moving belt. They first sort the bottles by color, separating green ones from clear ones. Then they visually inspect each piece, and remove non-PET caps or bases, or any foreign objects, so that the final result is strictly PET bottles. The clean containers are then crushed into tiny chips. Chips from green bottles stay green, and become yarn that will be dyed a dark color.

At this point the process begins to be exactly like regular PET fabric manufacturing. The recycled plastic chips are emptied into a vat and heated, then forced through spinnerets just like virgin polyester would be. The produced thread is woven into fabrics and shipped to us.

And that is how a Bill Becomes a Law Johnny...er, no sorry wrong Saturday morning cartoon...That is how your trash becomes our bags!

REDUCING WASTE ::

How does this fabric come together?

Here's the Nitty Gritty:

Making polyester fleece from recycled PET bottles is a significant means to reducing the amount of plastic that is otherwise buried in landfills. One manufacturer estimates that for every meter of polyester fabric made of 80% recycled PET, eight plastic beverage bottles are kept out of landfills. Patagonia, the leading manufacturer of recycled polyester fleece garments, estimates that 25 soda bottles go into each jacket made from the fabric.

Recycling PET into polyester is also alleged to be less damaging to the environment even than growing organic cotton, because cotton leaches nutrients from soil and requires so much open space to grow.

The energy used to make polyester from recycled PET bottles is also significantly less than that needed to heat the chemicals for virgin polyester.

Here is the final key fact to take away: All plastics are made of petroleum and petroleum is increasingly scarce in the world, and therefore getting more expensive. Concepts like PET recycling and use in Consumer products is on way we all can reduce our dependency on oil.

And this all matters. No Jokes.

THE FUTURE - The Challenge and the Promise ::

Closed Loop. Closed Loop. Closed Loop.

Closing the loop is where all the cool innovation lies in this world…Recycling the bottles more efficiently, and increasing the range of products that can be produced. We're on the verge of huge changes in how we use our trash, and closing the loop is one of the most exciting aspects of the new way we'll be doing things. There's so much going on these days at every level-new research, new products-and we're excited to see what's coming.

Until then, buy a Juice Bag dammit, they rule.

If you got all the way to the end of this piece, we are very impressed and thankful for your time.