Monday 14 June 2010

US World Cup shirts made from plastic bottles

When England's World Cup team took on the USA at the weekend, they were facing a team wearing the most environmentally-friendly kit in the competition.

The USA team strip is made by Nike from recycled plastic bottles destined for landfill sites in Japan and Taiwan.

Each shirt is made from up to eight bottles and Nike rescued nearly 13 million plastic bottles, totalling nearly 254 tonnes of polyester waste, from going into the ground.

If the bottles used to make the jerseys were laid end-to-end, they would cover more than 3,000 kilometres - more than the entire coastline of South Africa.

By using the bottles, Nike cuts its energy consumption by up to 30% compared to the process of manufacturing virgin polyester.

Nike has also made the eco-friendly kit for Brazil, Portugal, The Netherlands, South Korea, Slovenia, Australia, New Zealand and Serbia.