H&M launches new collection made from recycled PET bottles

H&M in partnership with the Danone Aqua has technically transformed plastic bottles from Indonesian beaches into recycled polyester fabric. On January 14th, H&M launched its everyday kidswear collection in vibrant and joyful hues, which is put together from recycled polyester fabric blended with organic and recycled cotton replacing around 3.5 million PET bottles. 71 tonnes of PET bottles were collected from Kepulauan Seribu and the Bandung Area,  as estimated by the Bangkok Post.

Nellie Lindeborg, Assortment Sustainability Responsible at H&M strongly supports and promotes their “bottle2fashion” project as it allows H&M to become circular and collaborative with other conscious organizations. The initiative not only holds social and economical values but will also create awareness in the world. They also promote the further recycling of this collection by asking their consumers to bring their clothes back to them in the future.

Along with the H&M project “bottle2fashion,” this also promotes the “BijakBerplastik movement” by Danone Aqua which knows their commitment to keeping the oceans clean and collecting tons of bottles from the seashores as cited by Eating Anggraen, Senior Sustainability Packaging Manager.  Over 90 tons of plastics were collected from seashores of Kuta, Legian and Seminyak in just two days.

The initiative is also instrumental in creating job opportunities for the middle and lower class of society as the process includes several stages of collecting, sorting, cleaning, shredding and recycling, thus uplifting the community.

This project will also be a matter of learning and awareness for the kids when they will get to buy these clothes. H&M is working very hard in terms of sustainability; adapting and promoting its circularity in fashion. They also partnered with HKRITA, the Hong Kong company, to develop a “green machine” through which they produced recycled polyester for the first time.

H&M also started an initiative to give its customers an insight into how their recycling machine works to keep up with the closed-loop fashion economy. Also, H&M as a retailer is using ‘Circulose’ made from discarded textiles which adds other sustainable values to the fashion industry.

KEYWORDS: circularity in fashion, recycled polyester fabric, discarded textiles, recycled cotton, clothing recycling machines