Saving plastic bottles from the landfill, GreenSmart creates recycled, fashionable bags, backpacks and sleeves.
GreenSmart is a global brand of eco-friendly bags and cases featuring a line of backpacks and messenger bags made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) bottles. All fabrics used for the GreenSmart Bottles 2 Bags are derived from certified 100% post-consumer recycled PETE water and soda bottles. Each Bottles 2 Bags product creates a second life for 25 to 40 bottles.
GreenSmart’s website gives a detailed description of the process involved to go from bottle to bag.
GreenSmart explains that in the U.S. alone, an average of 230 PETE bottles per person end up in landfills each year. If these bottles were sent to a recycling center instead, they could be sorted, cleaned, ground into flakes, spun into yarn, woven into fabric and sewn into GreenSmart’s bags. This resulting fabric is equal in strength and quality to virgin polyester and carries the description “rPET polyester.”
GreenSmart's recycled Narwhal messenger bag
Each bag comes with a tag that carries a recycle symbol with a number inside. The number represents the amount of bottles that have found a second life in the fabrics of the bag. To further extend its commitment to the environment, GreenSmart products are named after endangered species, with hangtags on the product providing a quick introduction to the animal.
For example, 25 plastic bottles were given a second life to make the Narwhal messenger bag. There is a permanent logoed disc sewn to the bag labeled “25” to always remind you by purchasing this bag you became an active participant in continuing the cycle and keeping more plastic bottles out of the landfill.
The hangtag explains that the Narwhal is “a medium-sized, toothed whale that lives in the Arctic year-round. Narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk extending from their upper left jaw.”
Additionally, the company commits 10% of its profits to supporting the World Wildlife Fund and other organizations helping to create a greener planet.
GreenSmart’s philosophy statement shows that its intentions are simple, transparent and ongoing:
To make great bags using green materials;
to use smarter manufacturing practices whenever possible;
to provide smarter ideas for our own lives, as well as our customers;
to help educate and influence others through our products and practices; and
to be passionate about everything we do.
For more information about GreenSmart, visit greensmart.biz.
