Some Encouraging News Regarding Plastic Bottles

Encouraging News From The Environmental Front

As you may recall, yours truly learned about recycling at the knee of his Ronald Reagan loving, Republican mom from a very young age. For mom, recycling was not about politics, rather it was about common sense. If the glass jar could be made into another glass jar, then why would you toss it in a land-fill? She grew up in a frugal household, my grandmother Wright grew and put away every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine - cherries, corn, beans, apples, peaches, grapes, and more. All done on a double lot on Manning street in Detroit.

When my mom taught me to recycle, we did not have a service that would pick it up at the curb. We had to save the items and drive them to the recycling center which she did faithfully for many years. I mention all this to let you know recycling is in my DNA.

The last few months have given me a lot to cheer about in this regard. My slippers were getting pretty nasty and a new pair was in order. As I am typing this my dogs are ensconced in a pair of Ecowise slippers from Minnetonka. The fabric in them is made from fiber woven entirely from recycled plastic bottles. The plush, warm lining is 50% recycled plastic bottles and 50% polyester and the indoor/outdoor soles contain 5% recycled rice husk that would otherwise be burned. Minnetonka tells me there are approximately eight recycled bottles in my slippers and in the other Ecowise models.

At the REI Co-op sporting goods store, I found a great replacement for my well worn bright (not so bright anymore) red winter jacket. The Chroma jacket series is made by Obermeyer and is built to keep you warm on the ski slopes. Mine is mostly getting used on my daily walking commute to and from the store, but should I wake up and decide to ski again, I am set. Chroma jackets are made using REPREVEâ; a yarn that must be similar to that used in my slippers because it is made with 100% post consumer plastic bottles. The tag with my cool looking two tone gray jacket tells me it contains eleven plastic bottles.

My new pair of specs for work are from the ReMakes line of eye wear from Zenni made with 100% post consumer plastic. When I ordered them after my slippers and coat, I felt like I had hit the eco-trifecta! Anyone with any sense can figure out that putting bottles and paper and cardboard at the curb is great, but if there is no market for the things we try to recycle then they are going to end up in the landfill anyway.

Before we go any further, let me assure you that I am not telling you about these items so that you will think better of me. My point is that there are some great advances being made every day with industries making giant leaps to re-use and recycle. Less than a week ago, I read an article about a University of Michigan professor, Danielle Fagani, who led a team of scientists who came up with a way to recycle Polyviny Chloride (PVC) - think plastic plumbing pipes or lawn furniture or any of the thousands of things we make from PVC. Prior to this breakthrough, exactly zero percent of PVC could be recycled. How cool that this breakthrough happened and it is extra cool that it happened in Michigan. (Spartan fans, you need to just calm down and be happy about it, okay?) This is a good time to mention that our state was on the forefront of recycling bottles and cans in the last century. Pop quiz - What was the third state to make recycling cans and bottles a law?

Speaking of bottles, Julie and I just took a driving vacation to Charleston, SC. We do not buy a lot of bottled water for a variety of reasons, but Julie wanted one to drink in the car. She likes Life Water. Guess what - the Life Water bottles are all made from 100% recycled plastic. She showed me that with a big grin on her face and at the next stop we made somewhere in West Virginia, she came back to the car and told me the convenience store had six or seven brands of bottled water and ALL of them claimed to be in containers made entirely of recycled plastic. 

The skeptics out there are thinking, “Big deal. A pair of slippers and a jacket re-used 19 plastic bottles.” Sure, you can look at it that way if you want. What is the old adage about a glass being empty or full to a certain degree? Me, I prefer to celebrate the fact that giant companies are recognizing that it is time to quit burying plastic bottles in the ground or letting them end up in our lakes, rivers, and oceans. In addition, they are answering a demand from people like me who appreciate their efforts and will support them. Believe me, a nearly 75 year old company like Minnetonka is not going to develop a line of slippers just for the fun of it. They figure people will buy them and that is exactly what all of us who care about the planet and the future of healthy water, soil, and air need to do. Am I asking you to buy slippers and a jacket? No, but if you care about such things, then keep your eyes peeled for products that you need and use in your everyday life. If you can find one made in a sustainable fashion, buy it and take a further step and let the makers know you appreciate their efforts.

Looks like I am running out of space. Otherwise I would love to talk about the powerful all-electric outboard motors I just read about or how they are beginning to see a substantial increase in the monarch butterfly population in Mexico or how just nine large US cities generated more green electricity last year than the entire country did ten years ago. 

If you like to learn these kind of encouraging things, I would highly recommend a website started by David Byrne, (yup, the musician and front man for the Talking Heads): Reasons To Be Cheerful. Along with their daily efforts, they publish a big list of things to be cheerful about every January. Go to www.https://reasonstobecheerful.world and read the list of 183 things they compiled this year to celebrate about 2022. It will only take about 15 minutes and you might end up being as excited about plastic bottle recycling as I am.