Recently, a friend shared quite a story. Beth, a mom, a friend, a beauty and an inventor with safety on her mind, developed "Noblo." Noblo is a simple tethering device that keeps beach umbrellas "put." No more impaling umbrellas sailing through the air on an otherwise peaceful, yet windy, day at the beach.
In her quest to seek a manufacturer who could make her Noblo with sustainable fabric, she discovered an ugly truth. A contact at a manufacturing plant informed her that some supposedly eco-fabrics made out of recycled plastic bottles, were in fact, made from unused plastic bottles - fresh from the bottle-making plant. What?! Was this an ugly truth, an ugly un-truth or just downright fabricated?
Ok, I thought, why haven't we heard of this before? This is the ultimate in green washing. Is this a sickening hoax? Surely some simple google-sleuthing would shed some light...nothing yet. I'll keep looking.
In the meantime, google-sleuthing did give me some invaluable insight into innovative recycled-product fabrics. Coffee grinds, marble, corn - you name it...textile companies around the globe are combining used or grown goods for fabrics.
Super Textile, a Taiwan fabric developer and manufacturer, believes "garments made from recycled materials will eventually gain popularity as petroleum resources become scarcer and the cost of production comes down." This statement alone, relieves my stress of knowing that creating fabric from unused plastic bottles is possible or even happening. If it is, it can't last forever, such is the fate of something made from a non-renewable resource.
Interesting.
Interesting indeed! I recently saw an etsy shop selling products made form elephant dung "paper" While this concept is hard to wrap our minds around...I think it bodes well!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/68630840/sexton-ming-for-the-love-of-scrap?ref=sr_list_3&ga_search_query=elephant+dung&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
Posted by: Brooke Petry | 03/09/2011 at 09:02 AM