Fabric might be the only product I can think of which is known by its component parts, like cotton, silk, wool. These words usually refer to the fabric rather than the fiber used to make the fabric. We’ve all done it: talked about silk draperies, cotton sheets. There seems to be a disassociation between the …
I know it’s hard to imagine that the lovely fabric you’re eyeing for that chair – so soft and supple and luxurious – is just another plastic. But because 60% of all polyethylene terephalate (PET – commonly called polyester) manufactured globally is destined to be made into fibers to be woven into cloth, and because …
I was going to go on to other subjects, but just saw in the Seattle Times that the whale that washed up on a West Seattle beach last month was discovered to have 3.2 lbs. of garbage in its belly – including 20 plastic bags and 37 other kinds of plastic (read entire article here.) …
In Plastics, Part 1 (last week’s post; click here to read it) I tried to give a summary of why plastics are not such a good thing. The Plastic Pollution coalition has a list of basic concepts about plastic. Click here to read the expanded version: Plastic is forever Plastic is poisoning our food chain …
Philosopher George Carlin once said, “Man is only here to give the planet something it didn’t have: Plastic.” And man has done well: plastic is ubiquitous in our world today and the numbers are growing. We produce 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago. The production and use of …
It looks like the plastic bottle is here to stay, despite publicity about bisphenol A and other chemicals that may leach into liquids inside the bottle. Plastic bottles (which had been used for some kind of consumer product) are the feedstock for what is known as “post consumer recycled polyester”. Recycled polyester, also called rPET, …
Is it true, as one of the leading fabric distributors says of its “green” fabrics made of recycled polyester, that after “years of enjoyable use, these fabrics are recyclable?” Does buying that fabric really help reduce our dependence on a non renewable resource and lessen the burden that plastic is inflicting on our environment? I’d …
Synthetic fibers are the most popular fibers in the world – it’s estimated that synthetics account for about 65% of world production versus 35% for natural fibers.[1] Most synthetic fibers (approximately 70%) are made from polyester, and the polyester most often used in textiles is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Used in a fabric, it’s most …
OEcotextiles 