This month at the FIFA World Cup, football’s top stars will show their green spirit by wearing jerseys that have been made from recycled plastic water bottles. Nike, which manufactured the jerseys, has announced that many of the world’s leading players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Robinho and Ji-Sung Park will take to the pitch in South Africa, wearing environmentally friendly jerseys.

In addition to five-time world champions Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, United States, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia are wearing plastic. The company states that the jerseys are made entirely from recycled polyester and each one is produced from up to eight recycled plastic bottles.

Manufacturing these “eco-jerseys” has helped Nike divert 13 million plastic bottles from landfills. Moreover, if all the jerseys were laid end-to-end, they would cover more than 3000km, which is more than the entire coastline of South Africa.

The kits are created from bottles sourced from Japanese and Taiwanese landfill sites, which were then melted down to produce new yarn. The process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30 percent compared to manufacturing virgin polyester. Nike also claims that there will be no adverse body reaction to the plastic, as the product has been carefully tested.

Plus Packaging Inc. is a firm believer in recycling plastic/paper when possible, and offers a full line of products that are made from recycled or contain recyled products.

On a recent trip to Asia I noticed people drinking soda, tea, anything out of….you guessed it….plastic bags. Besides thinking to myself why not sell all of  Asia Printed Plastic Bags from Plus Packaging, I wondered why they did not just use paper or plastic cups. 

Using plastic bags actually saved money on a number of levels. The vendors, who worked in small stalls or even floating markets in Thailand would pour drinks from large bottles into the bags. They would save space by not using cups and save tremendous cost, as the bags are much less expensive than cups.

In addition they could serve multiple people drinks from one bottle, something I am sure that would not be FDA approved in the USA, but again effective….especially for the person who was floating on a boat.

The only thing we had to get used to….no ice, or refrigeration….something that must add flavor, because plastic bag cola was not “the real thing.”