Find Out How They Make Plastic Into Fabric

We get lots of emails at Life Goggles and one the other week turned out to be a two in one deal. Not only did it link to a digital editions of magazines via a website called Cloverleaf, but the article it pointed to for a free preview was about how plastic is recycled into fabric.

The article is from ReadyMade magazine and you can read it here. A little more info and picture of the digital edition are below.

The article follows the process it takes to turn a bottle into fabric, from the chipped plastic bits that resemble snow cone filling to the fiber filaments that “feel eerily like human hair gone unwashed for so long that it’s soft with grease.” There’s also some great photos, and surprising facts like it takes just 10 plastic bottles to make a pound of fiber.

Wales To Be Britain’s Biggest Plastic Recycler

It was only earlier in 2008 that Closed Loop Recycling opened its plant in Dagenham, England. But now it’s been announced that an even bigger plant is to open in Deeside, Wales.

The £12 plant has been given the go-ahead by the Government and it’s hoped it will open next year. The existing plant is the first recycling facility in the world to take plastic milk and drink bottles and turn them back into plastic suitable to be made into more drink bottles – hence the ‘closed loop’ bit.

The new plant will recycle 50,000 tonnes of bottles that would have otherwise gone to a landfill in the UK or shipped abroad. To put that in perspective, a 500kg bale of plastic bottles contains around 12,500 of them, so multiply 25,000 by 50,000 and you have a huge number of bottles that are getting recycled.

It’s a very clever process how they sort all the bottles out, you can find out for yourself here.

Act2 GreenSmart Messenger Bag Review

Finding alternative green materials to the most commonly used synthetic materials out there is often a challenge. I was delighted to be sent a Act2 GreenSmart horizontal messenger bag. The bad also comes in a vertical version and in Storm Blue.

I’ve put together a quick video of the bag so you can see all it’s features. If you can’t see the video please click here.

It features front and back zipped pockets, magnetic snaps on the front, three smaller inside pockets, two large inside pockets, with the second one divided into two and padded for your laptop. Using 30 16 ounce PET (plastic) drink bottles as the material, this is the easiest plastic to recycle (symbol 1).

The bag is great, certainly large enough to contain everything, er, a messenger bag should contain. It’s stylish (my wife loved the colour!), strong in my tests, and it certainly looks like it’s durable and tough enough for day to day use.

My only slight concern is the price. At around $70 – $75 it’s not the cheapest bag out there, but looking at ones of similar style, build and quality (as far as I could tell) it is only about $10 more than comparable “non-green” laptop messenger bags that I could find. Of course you can get bags for $30, as you can for $300, so although it may seem expensive it’s a matter of getting what you pay for, and in this case I think that’s a lot.

Made by Act2 GreenSmart they are available from a few places including agreenplace4u for about $74.99. The vertical version is $69.99.

BuyGreen.com Reusable Bag Product Review

BuyGreen.com offer a wide variety of green products for the home, leisure and the workplace. One of those is a reusable shopping bag, which we were sent to test to compare to our other reusable bag reviews.

There are many different reusable bags on the market, ones that fold, that are sturdy, made of polyester, burlap, cotton, recycled bottles and so on. So why use this bag?

Well it’s only $6 for a start, so if you’ll looking at buying several for grocery shopping then that helps. It’s also made of 100% organic cotton, some cotton bags aren’t. It’s not the most luxurious cotton we’ve tested, but in a way that helps as you can fold it up into a rather small size. It’s pretty thin that makes it light and helps with the small space it takes up.

Pretty sturdy too, it can certainly take a lot of groceries and I reckon easily stronger than a normal plastic bag. Though perhaps the 24 pack of beer bottles is best left to being carried on it’s own.

Made in India, the bags are $6 from BuyGreen.com. Check out our other bag reviews here.

ReJAVAnate Reusable Bag Eco Product Review

We’ve tested a lot of reusable shopping bags on Life Goggles and there is a huge variety in the style and type. You can see them all on our Reusable Bag Comparison Chart, and the latest bag we have proves that there is always something new.

ReJAVAnate take burlap from coffee roasters that would be otherwise sent to landfill (about 800,000 tons go every year), and make them into reusable shopping bags.

They work with a company called The ARC, who help over 140,000 individuals with developmental disabilities to find employment, to hand make the bags, and then they sell them to individuals and organizations who “want to make a statement about reducing paper and plastic bag consumption”.

The bag I received was lined and pretty large at 15″ by 15″. It’s very sturdy, I’m not sure what weight it can hold but was my choice for drink bottle and cans as it seemed one of the strongest bags I’ve used. It arrives in an old Vans shoe box, with a proud stamp on the inside that said “Shamelessly shipped in reused packaging”. I like it!

They have a variety of bags, medium and large, plain or with different logos, and lined or unlined ranging from $9 to $11. You can buy them online at ReJAVAnate.

Nalgene Plastic Water Bottles Eco Product Review

Nalgene sent me a lot of their bottles to test, seven in total. Reusable bottles are a great alternative (we’ve previously looked at SIGG) and these plastic bottles represent many different styles and uses so it was great to test them.

From left to right in the image below we received two 32oz wide mouth HDPE Retro bottles; Oasis Loop Red Top; Loop Top – Sunny Yellow; pink ATB Bottle; OTG bottle; and a Loop top.

As you can see the bottles vary quite a lot. All are extremely durable, resistant to staining, resistant to retaining odors, dishwasher safe (top rack only) and guaranteed leak proof. The wide mouth bottles didn’t really appeal to me, though are much easier for getting ice into them, and can be hand washed easily. The other narrower bottles really have to go in the dishwasher to get properly clean. Our favorite is the OTG bottle that does not leach any taste, is a handy size and very sturdy. It probably looks the best out of them all, and can be opened with one hand.

It’s a tough choice to choose a reusable water bottle these days. Which ones leach, which ones don’t, is plastic reusable OK, or are aluminum or steel bottles better? What is the cost of manufacture compared to “disposable” plastic bottles? I think it comes down to a personal choice, and depends what you use them for – the plastic ones are lighter and more ideal for sports (such as fitting in bicycle cages or graduations for measuring energy supplements), whilst I think for walking/hiking the metal ones are perhaps sturdier. For day-to-day work and the like then pretty much pick whatever you’re comfortable with. Nalgene certainly have a massive range of styles, shapes and colors from which to choose and see what you like.

The bottles range from $6 and more and are available in many, many different styles and colors from Nalgene.

LetsGoGreen Eco Product Reviews

LetsGoGreen is a business that believe their products can make a positive difference one home at a time. They’re environmentally friendly, and are selected specifically for use in every room in the house.

We were sent a few items to take a look at. Their 100% Recycled Toilet Paper is free of dyes, inks and fragrances and is recycled without chlorine or bleaching. Frankly, as far as I can tell, this was the same as the non-recycled type, so there is absolutely no reason not to switch from the non-recycled type which are cutting down ancient forests. If every home in America changed just one roll for a recycled roll, then it would save a million trees a year.

Another no-brainer is to switch to Ecosafe degradable trash bags. We have the 13-gallon Tall Kitchen Bags. Ecosafe bags are just like regular plastic bags, except that they will totally degrade and compost in 12 to 24 months. They contain an additive called DCP which remains dormant until triggered by sufficient UV light, heat or mechanical stress. The bags leave no toxic or harmful residue.

Finally, I’m getting quite good at looking at reusable bags. Their canvas totes are made in the U.S.A. and are grocery-sized and sturdy. Dimensions are 18″ L x 7″ W x 17.5″ H (with 13″ handles), and carries quite a lot. I actually also use it to carry other reusable bags around in

A four pack of 100% Recycled Toilet Paper is only $2.39 (on sale), Ecosafe kitchen or trash bags start at only $2.99 and the reusable canvas tote $9.99 from LetsGoGreen.biz. Plus they have a 25% off FRIEND discount on!

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