We'll drink to this

From bottles to shirts and trousers, a green garment proves the evil is not in the plastic

This time, it is about hitting the bottle in a good way. Bisleri has put the green into garments by making uniforms for their sales team across India from used PET bottles. These shirts have been made from threads from recycled bottles and currently, there are 5,000 employees wearing these recycled uniforms.

The 'green' garments (blue, if you go by their colour) came about under the 'Bottles for Change' initiative and at least 10 lakh bottles were used to make uniforms for the staff.

To make the uniforms, first, the bottles were sent to the recycler which were crushed and converted into flakes. The flakes, in turn, were made into fibre in the conversion machine. Later the fibre is dyed and mixed with cotton for shirting and with viscose for trousers. It took 40 bottles to make a shirt and approximately 45 bottles to make a trouser.

After mixing, the fibre is converted into yarn on the ring frame spinning machine. Once the yarn is ready, it is converted into fabric through the weaving process on rapier and air-jet looms. With weaving completed, the fabric is then sent for washing and final processing which is moved to the tailoring unit for stitching the final uniform.

Anjana Ghosh, Bisleri's marketing director, wanted to break the negative stereotypes associated with plastic. She said, "People hate plastic because they are unaware of what recycling can do. There is a misconception that water bottles add to environmental pollution. In fact in India, we have a robust recycling industry, which produces high-value fabric, shoes and other products from PET bottles. We thought we should practice what we preach that 'plastics are not waste'," she finished.

When the 5,000 employees flaunt their uniforms made from plastic bottles, they will be doing just that — practising what the company preaches.

5,000
No. of employees who wear the recycled uniforms

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