Nine World Cup sides to wear shirts made entirely from recycled PET bottles

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 12:17 PM on 26th February 2010
Footballers including Cristiano Ronaldo and Robinho will take to the pitch in the World Cup in South Africa this summer wearing shirts made out of recycled plastic bottles.
Nike announced yesterday that for this first time its nine national teams, which include Brazil, Portugal and The Netherlands, will wear tops made entirely from polyester.
The environmentally-friendly move will see each shirt made from up to eight recycled plastic bottles.
 
Green: Footballers including Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo will wear Nike shirts made entirely from plastic bottles at this summer's World Cup in South Africa

Manufacturing the shirts this way has prevented nearly 13million plastic bottles, totaling almost 254 tonnes of polyester waste, from going into landfill sites.
This amount would be enough to cover more than 29 football pitches.
Nike claimed making the shirts has prevented nearly 13million plastic bottles from going into landfill sites
Nike claimed the move is its biggest ever commitment to sustainability.
Nike Brand president Charlie Denson said: 'We are equipping athletes with newly designed uniforms that not only look great and deliver performance benefits, but are also made with recycled materials, creating less impact on our environment.'
To make the 2010 national team kits, Nike's fabric suppliers sourced discarded plastic bottles from Japanese and Taiwanese landfill sites and then melted them down to produce new yarn that was ultimately converted to fabric for the jerseys.
This process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30 per cent compared to manufacturing virgin polyester.
Mr Denson added: 'Consumers should not be penalised for choosing environmentally-friendly products. Our goal is less impact and lower cost.'
The shirts cost £50 each.
The teams wearing Nike's new national team jerseys in South Africa are: Brazil, The Netherlands, Portugal, USA, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1253892/Nine-World-Cup-sides-wear-shirts-entirely-recycled-plastic-bottles-South-Africa.html#ixzz0gkooUXsb
World Cup Shirts to Be Made Out of Recycled Plastic Bottles
BY Ariel SchwartzThu Feb 25, 2010

The best way to highlight your company's environmental commitments is to bring them into the spotlight. We're guessing that's the motive behind Nike's move to make this summer's World Cup shirts out of recycled plastic bottles. The shirts will be worn by all nine Nike-sponsored teams, including England, Brazil, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
Nike's bottles-to-T-shirts operation is fairly straightforward. Recycled polyester comes from a Taiwanese supplier that cuts up, melts, and spins plastic bottles into a yarn for the shirts. Each shirt will consist of 100% recycled polyester and approximately eight plastic bottles. The shirts are slightly more expensive to produce than standard jerseys, but Nike claims that the costs ultimately even out because less material is needed for production. And on the outside, players and fans won't be able to tell the difference between the bottle-filled jerseys and the regular polyester shirts worn by non-Nike teams.
Environmentally savvy soccer lovers will also have the chance to check out Nike's shirts--the brand is using 13 million plastic bottles to produce jerseys for fans. All in all, Nike's initiative will stop 254,000 kg of polyester waste from being dumped in landfills.
Nike isn't the only company to manufacture shirts out of plastic bottles. Coca-Cola's Drink2Wear shirts are also made out of recycled bottles, and Patagonia started manufacturing fleece out of post-consumer bottles in 1993 with little fanfare. But by featuring the technology at sporting events watched by millions, Nike is letting the world know that the technology is worth our attention.

PET recycling in the World Cup spotlight
By Don Loepp on February 26, 2010 1:08 PM ET | No Comments | No TrackBacks
PET recycling is getting a lot of media attention today, thanks to Nike's decision to use recycled polyester to make the soccer uniform shirts for all nine Nike-sponsored teams in the 2010 World Cup.
Teams from Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, United States, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia all will wear shirts that are each made from up to eight PET bottles.
The news gives a nice bit of public recognition -- all around the globe -- to PET recycling. Check out these stories from London's Daily Mail, and from Fast Company magazine.
And USSoccer.com calls the jerseys the "most environmentally-friendly and technologically-advanced uniform ever produced." (I hope that will translate into an appearance in the championship game).
Does making a few dozen shirts from recycled PET have an impact on the environment? Well, don't forget that many fans will want to buy a replica shirt for their favourite team, and Nike is making those from recycled polyester, too.
According to Fast Company, that means Nike expects to use about 13 million bottles to make jerseys for fans, or about 558,000 pounds (275,000 tonnes) of PET