Prime minister Narendra Modi is known for his sartorial choices. This time, it was his sleeveless jacket made using recycled materials from plastic bottles, which he wore during the recent Parliament session.
The jacket was made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, which are converted into a form of polyester that resembles clothing fabric. It was manufactured by Shree Renga Polymers and Ecoline Clothing.
While PM himself has been an advocate for a plastic-free world, several brands have sent out a strong message to create recycled plastic fabric or footwear.
For instance, Shree Renga Polymers is a frontrunner in pet bottle recycling and sustainable textiles in India. The polymers brand has cutting edge German technology powering its production lines with quality and efficient productivity. The hallmark of its technology is in manufacturing dope dyed colours and recycled polyester fibres. It has developed more than 50 colours and has capabilities to produce flame-retardant, anti-microbial, trilobal and hollow fibres.
A creative reuse for otherwise waste materials can be incorporated while rethinking or recreating fashion wear like T-shirts and water bottles. Plastic is a synthetic material that is widely used in a variety of sectors. A huge amount of plastic is produced and dumped in the environment but it doesn’t degrade naturally.
Ever since the breakdown of the pandemic, there has been an unprecedented use of plastic, more out of fear than out of need — be it in the form of PET bottles, masks, bags or disposable cutlery and crockery. Beverages major Coca-Cola India has partnered with grocery delivery service Zepto for a unique ‘return and recycle’ initiative for PET bottles. The initiative seeks to establish a process of collection of PET bottles with 100% traceability to ensure effective plastic waste management.
While the world without plastic is a global issue, it is estimated that India alone produces more than 25,000 tonne plastic a day or 16.5 billion tonne plastic a year. On an average, every Indian consumes around 11 kg of plastic per annum.
However, PET bottles can be recycled and converted into, for instance, plastic chips which can then be used to manufacture polyester fabric. This polyester fabric when blended with cotton or other such fabrics can help in reducing carbon footprint and carbon emissions.
UNIREC, a unit of BrandStore India, launched with a focus on creating a brand where every product is manufactured using recycled plastic PET bottles and reducing the carbon footprints, making garments and workwear/uniforms. Each garment made by UNIREC helps in recycling on an average 10 plastic bottles of 1 litre each. As brands promote the idea of repair by upcycling factory waste into short limited-edition collections that can benefit the sector, it also helps in a way to recycle post-consumer waste and post cutting scraps to new fabrics. Delhi-based Doodlage is a sustainable fashion brand that creates season-less garments, upcycles waste to create accessories, soft furnishing products and paper to make packaging or stationery products.
Metro Brands launched Ecoz’ collection, shoes for men made from plastic obtained from discarded PET bottles that are converted into recycled yarn which, in turn, is converted into fabrics. As many as 11 PET bottles aere crushed to make one Ecoz Collection shoe. Neeman’s, an innovative footwear brand that uses natural, renewable and biodegradable fibre in its shoes, also launched ReLive Knits, India’s first sneaker made with 100% recycled PET bottles.
In 2013, Levi’s launched its WasteLess range of jeans composed of a minimum 20% post-consumer recycled content from an average of eight plastic bottles.
