As we were checking out this morning’s blog posts, we saw this over at Treehugger: The US Consumes 1500 Plastic Water Bottles Every Second, a fact by Watershed.

We knew American’s were a plastic-loving bunch, but this number really struck home. Not only for its excess, but for the opportunity all those plastic bottles represent. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that only about 20 percent of those bottles make their way into the recycling bin.

In this economy, just think of the new jobs could be created if  we focused on this “resource.” Here’s a sample of what we can make by recycling those 47,335,389,000 plastic bottles used each year:

Clearly, we need to significantly reduce our use of plastic bottles. But there are already billions and billions of them in our landfills. Realistically, we’re not going to end our addition cold turkey either. We’d like to see more businesses use recycled plastic, especially for clothing and carpet.

What would you do with all those discarded plastic water bottles?

It’s a common misconception that bottled water is cleaner and healthier for you than tap water. In some cases bottled water is cleaner, in others it’s far worse, and in about a quarter of the cases it’s exactly the same. The non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that a staggering 25 percent of bottled water comes from municipal sources—the very same sources that deliver water to your tap each day. With no information on the bottle itself and vague marketing slogans like bottled at the source (which source would that be?), consumers are left to a lot of guesswork.

In a recent article for SF Gate, water conservation expert Dr. Peter Gleick probed the requirements for bottled water labeling, arguing that the problem starts with how water is categorized.

Bottled water is currently considered a food product and, as such, falls under FDA regulation—meaning bottled water requires the same nutritional label as any other food. The difficulty with this classification, of course, is that we don’t need to know the fat or caloric content of water: It’s always zero, so nutritional data is completely irrelevant.

The facts consumers need about water—the water source, how it’s been treated and cleaned, and which minerals are present and at what levels—aren’t currently required for labeling. The iffy regulation process often leaves consumers confused about the cleanliness of bottled water and misled about the source. Until label requirements change, Gleick advises a buyer beware policy.

If you’re still drinking bottled water, what do you want to see on the label?

More and more broadly available, recycled PET is a growing trend in eco-friendly fabrics. We’re taking a look at the process and advantages of recycled plastic fiber.

Read part 1: how plastic trash becomes fabric

landfill to retail

Once a drink bottle is collected, it is sent off to a processing facility. There, the bottle is cut into small pieces called flake and then washed. PET flake is then melted into a liquid and shaped into a long, thin fiber. These fibers are spun into yarn in the same manner as materials such as cotton, wool, and other natural products. These yarns are now 100 percent recycled polyester.

By using recycled plastic instead of new petroleum, over 60 percent of the energy is saved without any additional harm to the environment. No other fiber is produced with less impact.

Recycled polyester can also help the environment through the use of AirDye® technology. This process uses no water and much less energy to add color and designs to the fabric. Conventional dye and printing methods pollute over 15 gallons of water for a simple t-shirt in addition to introducing a number of hazardous chemicals and by-products into the environment. AirDye technology makes a great looking product without all those problems and the color lasts as long as the garment.

Manufacturers of apparel and other products are beginning to look at recycled polyester as not just the best alternative to natural fibers, but a better choice. This material is available, easy to work with, affordable, and provides consumers with the better environmental product.

Better for the Planet and Better for You

Another area where recycled polyester can help make a positive change is in the use and care of a garment made from it. A cotton shirt holds water. A lot of it. And if you are wearing it during a workout or caught in the rain, you know what we’re talking about. Polyester sheds the water. This is makes it more comfortable to wear. But consider what happens in the wash. A shirt that holds less water is easier to clean and dry. It takes less than half the energy and water to wash a shirt made from polyester as it does one made of cotton.

Polyester is also tougher than cotton. A polyester shirt lasts longer; up to five times longer. A longer life means buying fewer shirts, which means less resources consumed. Not to mention the money you save.

Lastly, what do you do with your shirt when you can no longer use it? The first and most obvious choice is to pass it on to someone who can. So, a shirt that lasts longer is even more important. But, what then? The ability to recycle that same shirt into yet more RPET and recycled polyester and back into a new garment is key. No products going to landfill.

How many times can a product come back again and again? We honestly don’t know–generations, at the very least. This brings new meaning to the term “hand me down.”

Recycled Polyester and You

Each shirt, bedspread, or handbag we make is one less made from the earth’s very limited resources. We know that not everything a person buys can be made from recycled trash. But for those products that can be, and that not only work as well, but even better; it seems obvious to us what to do. And we think that many of you agree with us.

A few weeks ago, we raised the issue of increased plastic bottle waste during summer months. Happily, we’ve since stumbled upon Plant It Water—an alternative water bottle that is made from over sixty percent renewable resources and can be completely recycled after use.

In addition to boasting super green packaging, for every carton of water sold, the company plants a tree and makes a donation to A Single Drop, a non-profit dedicated to providing clean water in developing nations.

Currently, Plant It is only available at fundraisers at events. For a list of events in your city, check out PlantItWater.com.

As the record-breaking heat across the country suggests, summer will soon be upon us (although we’re still freezing in San Francisco!). We’re always grateful for warm weather and longer days, but as the thermometer rises, so does water consumption.

Americans throw away 5 billion plastic bottles every summer, and a staggering number of them—with estimates ranging from 77 to 90 percent—end up in landfills.

Interestingly, in 1995, 40 percent of all PET bottles were recycled, a number that dropped down to 23 percent a mere 10 years later.

What’s even more disheartening (or encouraging, depending on your optimism on a given day), is the overwhelming demand for recycled PET flakes—a demand we can’t meet at present. Salon asks the pertinent question: If we’re consuming more plastic than ever, why can’t post-consumer plastic supply match demand?

Are people getting lazier? Are they recycling less? Not necessarily, experts say. In a word, the problem is infrastructure, not apathy. Consumption has more than doubled in the last 10 years, a rate of growth the recycling industry simply hasn’t been able to sustain.

The good news is, with better infrastructure, there’s potential to develop an entirely new, environmentally-friendly industry. PET plastics are one of the only completely recyclable materials: They can be made into anything from new bottles to tents to t-shirts. The graphic to the right, provided by NPR, details the process from bottle to fabric.

For information on local recycling programs, check out Earth911.com. Simply enter what your location and what you need to recycle, and the site will provide a list of local centers. Patagonia and Nau both offer lines of recycled PET clothing. Let us know if you have any other companies to recommend as leading the charge to use recycled PET.