Every Olympic Athlete's New Shirt: Made of Recycled Coke Bottles
by Alex Pasternack, Beijing, China on 08.26.08
Photo: Kevin Tressler
Michael Phelps' swimsuit may not look too comfortable, but what about a T-shirt made of Coke bottles? The idea is hardly new, but it's never been put on so many influential backs before: every athlete at the Games in Beijing received a recycled plastic t-shirt from the Coca-Cola, in a bid to spread the word about recycling. And it needs spreading: only about 10 percent of its bottles are recycled now in the US, where some 25 million bottles are consumed every day.
Hoping to clean up its act, the company is aiming to get no less than 100 percent of those bottles in the US recycled back into food-safe plastic. They're also aiming to recycle every Coke bottle consumed on the Olympic Green, and have secured pledges from hundreds of athletes to recycle during the Games. The athletes' new shirts, composed of a blend of cotton and the polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, out of which Coke bottles are made, have been touted as keeping more than 200,000 plastic bottles – weighing roughly 6 tons – out of the waste stream.
Every little reminder to recycle counts, and getting reminders from some of the world's best athletes isn't a bad idea. But what if the T-shirts prove to be less recycling reminders than cool ads for Coke (thanks to blogs like this?)
The front says simply "I'm From Earth" in red Helvetica -- probably a doubly useful message for people like Phelps and Usain Bolt -- and on the back are the small silhouettes of five bottles, the estimated number used to produce the shirt. Thankfully the Coke logo is tiny.
Still, if the shirts are simply ads for sustainability--or rather Coke's sustainablity program--would the problem be compounded? Imagine more of us buying more Coke (ni hao, China!), with the belief that the company is doing its part to help the environment, and with the added excuse that because they are doing so much, we the consumers don't need to do much more.
This is especially worrying here in China, where returnable glass Coke bottles are slowly disappearing as Coke eagerly looks to expand its market share for the plastic bottled variety.
The shirt is comfortable -- but is it too comfortable? In other words, what happens when gestures of corporate social responsibility replace actions of personal responsibility? To be sure, Coke seems to be taking sustainability more seriously than ever. And we love that the company is spreading the message, in a nice looking way. But are the shirts more than, if you will, pre-(green)washed?
Would love to hear your 20 oz below.
More on Coke and PET recycling on TreeHugger:
Greenwash Watch: Drink 2 Wear T-shirts From Coke Bottles, Bangladesh Turning PET Into Cash, Big Ben In Old Coke Cans Reminds Us To Recycle?, Bottles 2 Bags Recycled PET Makes Nifty Laptop Cases and Bags
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 6 Recycled Hats You've Got to See
- Seriously Cool Boots from Recycled Plastic Bags
- Recycled Cigarette Butts Clothing. No kidding
- Top U.S. Beverage Company Receives Grade of Just “C” for Recycling Efforts
yeah, and now the that cotton and the PET are blended, neither can be recycled. Great. Not exactly a closed-loop innovation.
Why so negative? This is a step in the right direction. Coca Cola should be applauded for their actions. I cannot imagine how upset you would be if they had any advertising on the tee shirt. You are not encouraging other large corporations to take additional steps.
@ easied
Standardized, deposit refundable, reusable bottles refilled at regional depots are ( and were) much better for the environment, than single-commercial-use recyclable PET bottles. And replacing that stream of reusable bottles with a stream of recyclable bottles seems to be an environmental misstep.
This is just a drop in the ocean.
"Every little reminder to recycle counts, and getting reminders from some of the world's best athletes isn't a bad idea. But what if the T-shirts prove to be less recycling reminders than cool ads for Coke (thanks to blogs like this?)" - exactly. It's just another promotional move for the supergiant Coke Corporation. Financially they could have done a lot more then this.
This is not recycling. This is downcycling and the creation of a monstrous hybrid that renders useless the original materials. This stuff will be in a landfill in probably less than 5 years. Not cradle to cradle. This is not something that should NOT be regarded as a bit in "every little bit counts".
Why is it everyone from greenies to companies seems to be overlooking the obvious?
Replace disposable plastic bottles and products like forks and knives with biodegradeable ones? Is it really that hard to make corn into plastic?
Honestly! Coca Cola if you're reading this, there should be no worry about the bottle biodegrading before the user finishes drinking as it can take weeks or even months for it to decompose. In the meantime it only takes less than what, a day? To drink the contents of one bottle. So no big emergency here, no brainer. Same with those plastic lids in fast food restaurants and disposable plastic utensils.
Lets all get with the program and bug the companies into choosing biodegradeable plastic! Email them!
I love coke though, and at least they're trying to do something about their waste. Even if its not sustainable.
Regardless of whether the production of these t-shirts is a positive or negative step, I like the fact that all the athletes were given them and many pledged to recycle. They are real role models (as athletes) for the young generation, and more so if they show that recycling is 'cool'. As I'm in a position within a school trying to get the kids to get on the recycling bandwagon, this kind of high profile thing can set a great example.