What is Ecospun?

Ecospun is a polyester fiber made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. It can be used to create various fabrics, including fleece fabrics. The Ecospun fiber can be used by itself, or it can be blended with other fibers such as cotton, wool, and tencel.

Environmental Benefits of Ecospun

Ecospun enables billions of plastic containers to be recycled each year, instead of them being buried in landfill.

Currently, less than 30% of plastic bottles produced in the US are recycled. Given the fact that over 40 billion plastic bottles are produced in the US each year, this is a huge environmental problem. Furthermore, it takes over 700 years for each of these plastic containers to decompose!

What is Ecospun used for?

Ecospun, whether by itself or blended, can be used in many products. Here are some examples:

  • clothing (eg, vests, jackets, pants)
  • blankets
  • carpets
  • wall coverings
  • automobile interiors
  • various home furnishings
  • fiberfill (eg, filling material for cushions)
  • craft felt

So chances are, thousands people around the world are wearing recycled plastic don’t even realize it!

How is Ecospun Made?

Here’s how the Ecospun process goes:

  1. Plastic containers are collected from curbside and community recycling centers
  2. The containers are sorted by type and color
  3. All labels and caps are stripped off
  4. The plastic containers are then washed
  5. Then they’re crushed
  6. Then they’re chopped into flake
  7. The flakes are then melted and extruded to create fiber
  8. The fiber is crimped, cut, drawn, then stretched into the desired length (based on its strength), then baled.

Fortrel® Ecospun™ is a registered trademark of Wellman Inc, and is manufactured by Foss Manufacturing Company.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 7:51 am and is filed under Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

12 Responses to “What is Ecospun?”

  1. What is Recycled Polyester? | Natural Environment Blog Says:
    January 27th, 2008 at 8:02 am

    [...] fibers made from recycled plastic containers (such as Fortrel Ecospun) are often referred to as recycled polyester too. However, in this article, I’m referring to [...]

  2. Laura C Says:
    October 14th, 2008 at 12:44 am

    could you provide more advantages of the ecospun fibre! i am doing a school assessment task and need some more impacts inwhich the fibre has on society community and evironment!
    thanks
    laura C

  3. Ian Says:
    October 14th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    The fact that plastic containers are recycled means that it helps to eliminate plastic from landfills and general litter. Our oceans are becoming increasingly littered with plastic.

    Here’s more on the environmental impact of plastic bags on our oceans:
    http://www.natural-environment.com/blog/2008/04/08/impact-of-plastic-on-our-oceans/

    Also, using recycled plastic containers means that they can reduce/eliminate oil usage.

    Here’s what Wellman (the company that developed Ecospun) have to say about the benefits of Ecospun:
    “Wellman has the capacity to keep almost 3 billion plastic PET soda bottles out of the world’s landfills each year, saving over 1/2 million barrels of oil and eliminating 400,000 tons of harmful air emissions which contribute to acid rain, global warming and smog. The amount of petroleum saved by using post-consumer bottles instead of virgin materials in the manufacturing process annually is enough to supply power to a city the size of Atlanta for an entire year!”

    Good luck with the assessment!

  4. joanne Says:
    February 5th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    How can I find pillow inserts made with eco-spun? Wholesale?

  5. Leslie Says:
    March 5th, 2009 at 3:06 am

    Where can I buy Ecospun fiberfill batting wholesale? I make pet beds. Thank you. Leslie

  6. Kathy Cross Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    Hi I live in Okotoks Alberta. Have been trying to buy your 12ft Ecospun
    outside carpet for our deck. Could only find the 6 by 8, and no one could help us.
    If you can it would be appreciated.
    Thank you Kathy Cross

  7. Green Virtual Private Server Says:
    August 14th, 2010 at 7:54 pm

    Great post! Maybe you could do a follow up on this topic?

  8. Rahul Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 7:02 am

    I would like to start a venture which takes advantage of this process. Could any one help me to identify the detailed process: Including the chemical treatment process, machinery used, estimated capital required and possible niticrities ?

    It will be a great help if someone could guide me literature/resources which I need to read before getting into this.

  9. Plastic Containers South Africa Says:
    January 25th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Just shows you how one can work with plastics and how versatile this product can be. We just have to learn to recycle and not just pollute the environment, and in doing so we can work more with plastics.

  10. Recycled Plastic Says:
    March 30th, 2011 at 8:13 am

    It’s amazing knowing how plastic bottles we use on a daily basis can actually be recycled into clothing. I understand why department store across the nation does not advertise this type of products more often…

  11. Neoteny Says:
    September 28th, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Thanks for these posting, It help a lot of people to know the facts about the recycled materials. A job well –done guys and hope you will continue doing great blogs in the future. About the plastic bag we should really be helping one another to stop or minimize the uses the plastic bags because it is one of the cause that we are experiencing the climatic change.

  12. Website Marketing Australia Says:
    December 21st, 2011 at 12:05 am

    Good information and i like this post. No doubt that plastic bags have bad effecs on our environment.

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