How Are Plastic Water Bottles Turned Into Fabric?

Little do people know, every plastic ever made still exists to this day. In fact, there is a shocking amount of plastic floating around in our oceans, around 8 million metric tons. If we continue using single-use plastic, it’s estimated that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish by 2050.

This is a massive problem, but luckily there are ways we can fight plastic pollution, including turning ocean-bound plastic into fabric.

But is recycled plastic eco-friendly?

Eco-friendly plastics come in two predominant types. One is created using recycled plastic and the other using natural materials. 

Using recycled plastics saves non-renewable resources, offsets the amount of waste that would end up in landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This makes it more environmentally friendly and a great way to help the planet in a more sustainable way.

Step-by-Step Process of Plastic Recycling

It takes just six steps to turn plastic water bottles into fabric.

Step 1: Collection of Plastic Waste

The first step is to collect the bottles that will be turned into fabric. 

Step 2: Sorting Plastics into Categories

Once the bottles are collected, the clear bottles are sorted out from other colored bottles. Clear bottles will create white yarn and colored bottles will create green yarn or whatever color the bottle was.

Step 3: Wash to Remove Impurities

Next, the plastic water bottles are washed to remove any impurities and residues it may have collected while in the ocean.

Step 4: Shredding

After washing, the bottles are shred into tiny pieces, and the caps and labels are separated out from the bottle material. The cap is actually a different type of plastic than the bottle itself.

Step 5: Compounding

With a machine called an extruder, the shredded plastic is heated and forced into tiny holes to create fibers. They are torn into short pieces so the fiber isn’t continuous strands. It’s then bailed and finally ready to be turned into yarn.

Step 6: Spin into Yarn

The final step is turning the fiber into yarn. This consists of carding, which is a machine that aligns all the fibers in the same direction, and a spinning machine that actually makes the yarn.

Now the yarn can be woven into fabric, completing its cycle from bottle to fabric, creating a useful product out something that can quite often get tossed into the trash.

Explore Our Collection of Eco-Friendly Furniture

What could have polluted our nature and oceans, now makes your home look good. At KUJILA, we use 100% recycled materials made from ocean-bound waste to bring you high-quality, handmade and functional bamboo furniture to make your home more comfortable and sustainable.