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Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho will take to the field in
this summer’s World Cup in South Africa wearing shirts made
of recycled plastic bottles.
The change comes after Nike
said that it would make its biggest commitment to sustainability
by producing the shirts worn by nine teams in football’s biggest
competition from 100 per cent recycled polyester, with each
shirt using up to eight plastic bottles. Making the shirts
this way is expected to cut the amount of energy used in production
by 30 per cent and save 13 million plastic bottles going to
landfill sites this year alone.
Nike would not comment on how many shirts it expected to
sell, but using 13 million bottles would equate to more than
1.5 million shirts to be worn by the players and supporters
of countries including Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands.
Nike aims to make England’s kit, produced by its Umbro subsidiary,
from recycled materials as soon as possible.
The recycled polyester will come from a supplier in Taiwan,
using plastic from discarded bottles from Japan and Taiwan.
They will be cut up, melted down and spun into a yarn that
is ultimately converted into the fabric for the shirts.
Charlie Denson, president of Nike Brand, said that the recycled
shirts - which will be a permenant fixture in its range -
represented a good deal for consumers, the environment and
the company’s shareholders.
The fabric used is more expensive than normal, but Mr Denson
said the American sportswear manufacturer was able to reduce
the expense by using less material and cutting costs elsewhere.
He added that consumers would not be penalised for buying
sustainable products, because the shirts would cost the same
price as normal.
The company is keen to make more of its products using sustainable
materials to secure its supplies given the increasing scarcity
of the world’s natural resources.
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