With the rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products around the world, plastic pollution nowadays has become one of the severest environmental issues.
We, as an aspiring umbrella company, determine to make the umbrella industry a more sustainable and environmentally friendly place. In this article, today we will introduce a new trendy fabrics - RPET which is made from discarded plastic bottles.
What’s PET and RPET?
PET is the short name often used for Polyethylene Terephthalate, it is a type of plastic resin, a form of polyester and has the number "1" as its resin identification code (RIC). Since it can be fully recycled, in which case it becomes Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (RPET).
Why RPET matters?
Plastic pollution is one of the biggest threats to our environment and is growing at an alarming rate. By one estimate, one billion tons of plastic waste have been discarded since the 1950s. What makes this situation worse is that the recycling rate of it is only 9% and it takes hundreds of years for most plastics to degrade naturally after they’re discarded.
Recycled Polyester vs Virgin Polyester?
When compared to regular polyester, RPET
- consumes 85% less energy;
- requires 90% less water;
- reduces 65% emissions of CO2;
Statistics indicate that one plastic bottle (600cc) = carbon reduction 25.2g = oil savings 0.52cc = water savings 88.6cc
Why we make our umbrellas from recycled PET bottles?
We believe that single use plastics shouldn’t be thrown into landfill or drift into our oceans, we think they're much better off being recycled into umbrellas. Simple as that.
How do we recycle plastic bottles into fabric?
PET bottles to umbrellas? I know it sounds crazy when you first think about it, but to put it simply, we just simply change the raw material, instead of using crude oil to create polyester, we're using a waste (discarded plastic bottles) that we have excess of. After recycling, sorting, sterilizing, melting and crafting, we're creating a new fabric that is not only more sustainable, but one that is also soft, durable, and eco-friendly.
In short, RPET fabric is identical to regular polyester in all features, except for one: instead of being made from crude oil, RPET is made from recycled plastic bottles.
Conclusion
The use of RPET plastic is growing in popularity as a result of its recyclability, durability and outstanding performance.
As a small business unfortunately what we can do right now is a drop in a bucket, but we can't wait to do it after we grow. Making our umbrellas from recycled plastic bottles is not yet a perfect solution for plastic pollution but we’re incredibly keen to work with those like-minded companies or groups that care about environmental sustainability.