How to Make Garments From Used Plastic Bottles?

I was at a tradeshow (Gartex Texprocess), at Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, Delhi in August first week.

In front of our booth, there was another booth by The Tenth House. They displayed one cycle chart that showed conversion process of plastic bottles into fabrics and t-shirts.

Seeing the display diagram one person was asking his friends - how can they make clothes from plastic bottles (wastes)? I was listening to their discussion as I was sitting there.

It was not unusual to me. I know this is a common process in textile recycling manufacturing - making yarns from used plastic bottles. I have read many articles and watched videos on such conversion process.

This question triggered my mind - many people around us don’t know that it is possible. We can make clothes from used plastic bottles. So I thought of writing a short article on this topic. I captured some images of their booth including the diagram (see above image). Thanks to The Tenth House team for displaying such a diagram which increases awareness among the visitors - the possibility of making brand new garments from used plastic bottles.

At present days from start-up brands to the big fashion and clothing brands are making garments from recycled materials. This one is one example of such recycled textiles. T-shirts and other garments that are made from recycled material are considered sustainable products.

To make the fashion products sustainable, brands can initiate making clothes from waste. In the sample, the t-shirt ismade using 80% of the content is generated from waste materials. Here waste material means plastic bottles and PCW cotton.

How Fabric is made from plastic bottles?

The conversion method is like the following.

1. Collecting used plastic bottles for reuse. The first step is collecting enough used plastic bottles as raw materials. 
2. The plastic bottles are then shredded into flakes using a shredding machine.
3. The plastic flakes are melted into tiny pellets, which are called chips.
4. The plastic pellets are meted again and extruded into fiber strands. The mad-made fibers are called filament yarn. The fine filament fibers are converted into yarn for the following process.
5. The yarns are converted into fabrics through the weaving or knitting process. For making t-shirts knitting fabric is used. 
6. Lastly, fabrics are converted into stainable clothing. 

Once you can make fabrics from used plastic bottles, you can make suitable garments and fashion items from those fabrics. You need more details about which type of plastic bottles can be converted into textile yarns. Normally, post-consumer PET plastic bottles are used to make recycled t-shirts.

To know more about the stages of making polyester fabric (manmade fabrics) from plastic bottles please watch one video I embedded in another article. 

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Related Article: Transforming Plastics into Fashion

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For making recycled clothes and garments, pet plastic bottles are good examples. Some companies also make jeans from used plastic bottles. The yarns made from plastic bottles are blended with cotton and PCW cotton fibers to add some good properties of cotton fiber. So, post-consumer waste cotton and post-consumer plastic bottles are used together to make some kinds of recycled cloth.

When we increase the use of recycled plastic, it will be possible to reduce solid waste generation.

 

Image: The Tenth House booth

Conclusion:

As people are not aware of this they never explore this area. Sustainability is a big topic and at the same time challenges for fashion brands and consumers. As you become aware of the negative impacts of fast fashion and the high purchase of clothes, you can change your purchasing behavior. That small step would have a positive impact on our mother earth. 

Using clothes made of recycled material will create demand in the whole supply chain in the recycled garment business - from bottle collection to fabric sourcing to placing the garment order to the retail store.

If you need to know more about the processes of making clothes from recycled plastic bottles, you can explore and find many good videos to learn about it. Keep exploring and keep learning.