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From plasticware to plasticwear

Kishori Gopalkrishnan in Bombay

First you drink from it, and then you wear it! This is not a line from Omar Khayyam but about plastics. Plastic bottles, often dumped after use as useless garbage and considered environmentally unfriendly, are being recycled into fibre for usage in a variety of fashionable garments -- from sweaters to thermal underwear, sportswear, to sleeping bags and pillows, and knapsacks to shoelaces. Soon, you might see someone wearing a three-piece plastic suit!

Sources say the high-grade polyester fibre that is derived from the recycling process (from polyethylene terephthalate), is incredibly versatile and possesses the properties of polyester, which gives respectability to the once derided fibre and greater acceptability among the people.

Smelling a potential El Dorado, Indian companies have got onto the bandwagon. Those involved in recycling these bottles and bringing it down to the polymer stage are Garware, Indian Organic Chemicals, Ganesh Polytech, Viral Fibres, Arora Fibres and Nirmal Fibres. Indian Organic has a tie-up to use the plastic bottles of Pepsi and recycle it into polyester fibre, Garware uses it to make pillows which, they claim, never tear!

When this fibre (interestingly termed Ecospun by Wellman Inc, the first company to first conduct extensive research and develop the product) is spun into yarns and subsequently knitted and woven into fabrics -- whether as 100 per cent polyester fabric or in blend with of cotton, wool or spandex. Either way, maintain sources, the results are phenomenal.

The credit for creating this fibre goes to Wellman Inc, a Fortune 500 company, considered the world's largest bottle-recycling company and a leading fibre producer. The sources maintain that Wellman spent years on research, scientist and loads of money to develop Fortel Ecospun -- the revolutionary fibre which has been certified as being created from 100 per cent recycled plastic.

Ecospun first came on the scene for consumers in April 1993 when the United Nations Environmental Programme recognised Wellman in its first annual fashion industry award for environmental excellence. The UN had then cited Ecospun as a primary factor in this award.

Another US firm, Patagonia, introduced the first internationally available apparel made from Ecospun and in a matter of weeks, the garments were sold out. In a little over a year, Ecospun went from relative obscurity to a phenomenon, sources state. Dozens of apparel and home fashion items flooded the market from an ever-expanding roster of manufacturers.

Closer home, a representative of Indian Organic pointed out that while Wellman's recycling facility has been placed at an average 200,0000 tonnes, the total consumption of PET in India is currently pegged at 25,000 tonnes.

He pointed out that colourful and imaginative packaging techniques used to lure the customer have ensured the availability of toothpaste in a laminated tube, shampoo in a sachet and soap in a liquid dispenser. Similarly, food and beverage items also got themselves a new avatar -- the PET bottle.

The recycling process -- from plastic bottles and junk to fabrics -- is a systematic process. With a little help from technology, soft drinks consumed out of the stretch blow moulded PET bottles are going a long way in providing attire for the consumer as well. The veritable plastic, synthesised from polymers have so far given risen to polystyrene, polyurethane, polyvinyl, and polypropylene.

While mineral water, carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, edible oil, tea, coffee and malted foods are all available in PET bottles, there are several other applications. PET bottles are also being used in the case of processed foods like ketchup, jams and jelly, pickles and spices.

Confectionaries, pharmaceuticals, health care products and agrochemcials are also increasingly using PET products to package their goods.

Terming PET an ecofriendly polymer, an industry source pointed out that PET bottles, as compared to glass bottles, allows trucks to carry 40 per cent more product, reduced secondary and tertiary packaging material need by 50 per cent and helped fuel savings up to 40 per cent.

While PET could be completely recycled by mechanical and chemical process, he said 100 kilograms of oil was required to produce 1,000 one litre PET bottles, while 230 kg of oil was required to produce 1,000 one litre glass bottles.

Sources pointed out that recycled PET problems came to the forefront during a 1995 cotton crop failure in Asia, which boosted demand for plastics for use in fibre. This led to an increase in waste pet production to meet that demand for fibre, sources add.