Narrator: These filaments
used to be plastic bottles, and they're being turned into polyester. The fabric makes up more than
half of all of our clothing, and one company in
India called Shree Renga can turn about 1.5 million
plastic bottles into polyester in a single day. 

Senthil: That is going to be
almost more than tripled in the next couple of years. 

Narrator: Turns out, there's
plenty of appetite for it. More and more, fashion brands
like Adidas, Nike, and Shein are trying to increase
the amount of polyester made from recycled
plastics in their lines, often marketing them as more sustainable. But why is so much of what we wear made from plastic to begin with? And how do you turn a
bottle into clothing? The Shree Renga company spins about 25 metric tons of
polyester on a daily basis. The founder, K Sankar

is proud of every filament
his factory spins. But it took him decades
of trying to get here. I felt like doing something to the society by doing recycling. Narrator: Today, he runs the business alongside his son, Senthil, who quit his job in IT to help his dad. Senthil: I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I wanted to be an
entrepreneur in India. Narrator: Globally, we
produce about 600 million of these bottles every year, and most of them are not recycled. In India, waste pickers collect and deposit them at sorting
sites like this one, where workers crush
and bale them for sale. Every month, Shree Renga buys
about 900 metric tons of trash from companies like this one. But all it really wants is PET. That's short for
polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most common types of plastic. At Shree Renga's factory

the first step to getting it is separating the valuable bottles from the caps, labels, and glue. Mixing in other plastics
could ruin the final material, but getting to pure PET
is pretty time-consuming. Senthil: We have a lot of
advanced sensing technologies, which are used to separate PET,
PVC, all the other plastics. Narrator: Bottle caps are
usually made from polypropylene, a kind of plastic that Shree
Rengao doesn't recycle, so they sell them to another company that makes lead-acid battery cases. And all of the dirt and sand they collect from washing the bottles is pressed with ash to make bricks that
decorate the factory floor. Then, machines crush
the bottles into flakes. Bagged flakes are then loaded onto trucks and delivered to another
part of the factory. Here, they are crushed again
and passed over a sieve shaker, a machine that sorts the flakes by size, making sure they're no
larger than 14 millimeters.

Smaller particles falling
to the shaker's bottom are used again to make PET pellets. But the flakes still
aren't 100% separated. After a quick rinse, machines transfer them into a float tank. Here, the PET will sink, and other plastics can
be skimmed off the top. They're then washed 10 times to remove any remaining dirt and glue. Senthil: Nothing is
wasted in this factory. That water is again used back. Narrator: The plastic is
rinsed one final time, leaving behind clear flakes, which are dried and
loaded into these sacks. Now, it's time to turn them into fiber. And PET is uniquely
suited for this purpose. It has long chains of molecules
that hold tightly together, creating lightweight,
flexible, and strong materials. The length of those molecular chains determines whether the plastic is used for things like bottles,
packaging, or textiles. Chemically, PET and
polyester are the same thing.

Making fibers starts by melting the plastic flakes with colored pigments, a technique known as dope-dyeing. The combined goop is then pushed through a spinneret, a metal plate with hundreds of small holes that can be adjusted for thickness. When it melts and comes out, it comes in the colored form. We don't use a single drop of water. We don't use energy for our coloring process. Narrator: Shree Renga currently makes 200 different colors of fiber. As they exit, the filaments cool and dry. After every use, the plates are cleaned using high-frequency sound waves, which create microscopic bubbles that collapse and remove anything stuck to the spinneret. The fibers are then stretched using a series of rollers, which deposit them into these large buckets. Shutting down and restarting these machines is energy-intensive and expensive, so they have to run nonstop throughout the day. Senthil: If you have to stop,

then it takes a long time
for us to reboot again. Narrator: Workers weigh the drums and bring them into this
area called the draw line. Here, 60 to 70 barrels
are simultaneously routed through a series of eyelets, pulling them into parallel strips. Polyester tends to hold
static electricity, so the fibers are dipped
in a starch-based lubricant to avoid sticking together. Another series of rollers makes them up to four times longer, and yet another set of heated
rollers stabilizes the fiber into its stretched state. This machine crimps the fibers, giving them a wavy pattern and making them easier to combine with other textiles like cotton. The finished fibers travel
to the top of this platform, where they are cut down
to a manageable size. Finally, they are compressed,
baled, and shipped to another company
for further processing. At Sri Kannattal Mills, the fibers are spun into yarns
using a series of machines.

First, workers load them into a bale opener, which uses rollers and spiked drums to loosen the fiber. They weigh the sheet before loading it into a carding machine. It pulls the fiber over wire-covered cylinders that comb through tangles, creating a thin web that is then condensed into a loose rope called sliver. These sliver strands are coiled into large cans. Workers attach them to machines that combine several of the ropes together. Next, the slivers are run through something called a simplex machine. It uses a series of rollers rotating at different speeds to stretch the fibers and make them more parallel. The result is a more compact and uniform rope known as roving, which is ideal for spinning. Workers feed the roving through a spinner that twists it into yarn. Finally, the strands are ring-spun onto bobbins. Senthil and his father used these cones to make their clothing, but before PET was ever woven into T-shirts.

it started out as a lab experiment. When scientists at the
chemical company DuPont developed the first synthetic fibers in the early 20th century, they were celebrated as
major scientific achievements that could replace silk and cotton. Narrator: Before the breakthrough, the US imported over 90%
of its silk from Japan, using it mostly to make stockings. But all trades ceased during World War II, collapsing the silk market. After the war, nylon stockings became a
cheap, popular substitute. Narrator: And in the 1950s, polyester was built as a
magical, man-made fabric that wouldn't wrinkle. Narrator: In the 1970s, it
became cheaper than cotton, and fashion brands embraced it. The material was strong,
flexible, easy to dye, resistant to heat and
stains, and quick to dry. In the 1980s, cotton was the world's most popular fiber.

But over the next few decades, polyester came to dominate the industry and is expected to keep growing, with the majority of production outsourced to Southeast Asia. The popularity was fueled by
fast-fashion brands like Gap, H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. In 2020, the world produced enough polyester to fill about 2.5 million garbage trucks. Less than 15% of that came from recycled material. And one study showed that a single truckload's
worth of clothing goes into a landfill or
incinerator every second. To bring that stat down, more and more brands are
working with recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, including Adidas, Nike,
Zara, and even Shein. In early 2024, more than
120 clothing companies pledged to increase their
use of recycled polyester. Shree Renga launched its own
recycled clothing brand in 2021 called Ecoline. Most pieces are made of
100% recycled polyester.

but sometimes, they're mixed with cotton. Senthil: So once the fiber was made, making yarns and fabrics, and garments was just an extension. Narrator: Everything is still made in the same facilities. Workers connect hundreds
of bobbins to a machine that weaves the yarn
into sheets of fabric, which then head to inspection. Senthil: If there is some
defect that is found, it'll be marked with a marker. And once that marker is
seen in the cutting section, they will cut that portion alone and keep it aside as waste. That again gets recycled. Narrator: All of the fabrics
they use are laid out, marked, and cut into
various shapes for garments. To add a design, Shree Renga
uses a sublimation printer. And once the sheets are out, we place them into panels in
our heat transfer machine. Narrator: This device
applies heat and pressure to transfer dyes directly
onto the polyester.

The company sells 400,000 garments a year and plans to triple production by 2026. Senthil: We are boldly betting on this, expanding our capacities, thinking that the future is going to be sustainable fashion. And we want to be well placed when that wave comes. Narrator: In 2023, the family received a huge boost after India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, wore one of their vests, known as a sadri. I was literally in tears. My product is worn by the prime minister of the country. Something wonderful. Senthil: It's something to convince someone to wear something out of trash. And that we've been able to do with Ecoline. Narrator: Clothes made from recycled polyester are often advertised as good for the environment, but they still come with an impact. Washing any synthetic fiber can introduce microplastics less than 5 millimeters in length

into our waterways. Some studies suggest that
synthetic fibers contribute more than a third of all
microplastics in the ocean. And if it ends up in a
landfill, river, or ocean, it won't break down. To top it off, recycling polyester isn't as easy as recycling
a plastic bottle. Polyester is often mixed with
things like cotton, spandex, chemicals, and dyes that must
be separated before recycling. The cheapest and simplest
method for recycling clothing involves shredding it, but that creates shorter fibers that need to be blended with virgin ones to make new clothes. So they are typically
downcycled into carpets and stuffing for insulation. In 2020, a research institute in Hong Kong started experimenting with
fiber-to-fiber recycling. It partnered with H&M
to make this machine, which turns used clothes into
new ones in about three days. First, a technician like Emily
Shao examines the garment.

Emily: So today we will recycle an old garment. 
Narrator: This ozone chamber sanitizes the fabric in about an hour. Then, Emily removes the buttons, labels, and zippers and cuts the garment so the fabric is easy to work with. The shredder strips the bits of cloth down further. 
Emily: And then I will take out the opened fabrics. 
Narrator: But this part of the process does require some new materials. 
Emily: So we will add some virgin fibers into the yarn to make it stronger. 
Narrator: Another machine mixes that cotton with a recycled skirt. Emily then rolls the mixed fibers into clumps and feeds them into a machine that turns them into what's called a fiber web. The fiber web gets bundled into these snakelike slivers. The slivers are then spun into ply yarn, the building blocks for any new garment. Finally, a machine knits a new sweater based on a computer design.

Shoppers pay about $65 to recycle clothing here. How do we help consumers think about their clothes differently? Well, that's one of the reasons why we have a glass box doing research in a shopping mall. Narrator: The H&M Foundation partnered with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. That investment allowed the company to license and install the technology at one of its stores in Stockholm, where the company's headquartered. H&M calls it the Looop. Here, shoppers pay only $18 to see the recycling process in action. That's about the price of a new pair of the brand's sweatpants. Virginia: That's how it comes out. And then this is the only part that has to be removed. Narrator: Virginia, the technician, trims the extra yarn, and the garment is ready to go. It seems like a perfect solution, but it takes three days to recycle just one garment.

A factory like this that can recycle thousands
of tons of clothes a day doesn't exist yet. But H&M says that eventually, this kind of technology
could be a global solution for textile waste. Pascal: The holy grail is
garment-to-garment recycling, and that's for me where, today, most of our investment going to. Narrator: And other large companies are making similar bets. Gap and Zara's parent company, Inditex, recently made major investments
in an American company called Ambercycle. The company developed a chemical process to separate polyester from
dyes and other fabrics, eliminating the need for virgin materials. The idea for Ambercycle is really just, how do you take an old T-shirt and turn it into a new T-shirt, instead of using natural resources? The most difficult thing
is scaling up the process from pilot plant scale, to tens of thousands of T-shirts. That successive scale-up is really hard.

Narrator: It's especially hard when virgin polyester is so much cheaper and easier to use than new recycling technology. Less than 1% of old clothes are recycled to new clothes, so we don't actually have large, or I would say, commercial-scale technology for recycling. Narrator: Meanwhile, fast-fashion shows no signs of slowing down, and it's expected synthetic fibers could make up nearly three-fourths of all textile production by 2030. Urška: Brands in the industry wider needs to invest more into fiber-to-fiber recycling. But at the same time, we need to realize that this is not a silver bullet, you know? Narrator: Recycled polyester generate about 70% less emissions than virgin. And Shree Renga has several certifications, ensuring it limits the use of harmful chemicals and actually recycles the trash it buys. From the end product, you can trace everything back to the origin.

And we wanted that to be
the core ethos of our brand, and we positioned it that way. Narrator: Some advocates say it's better to just recycle bottles into new bottles, since that can be done around 11 times. But less than 10% of all plastic actually makes it to a recycling center. So for now, Senthil and his dad are happy to save any plastic they can from landfills or the oceans, even if it's only temporary. Senthil: For us, when you
make it into a garment, it takes a longer time for
it to reach the dustbin. Narrator: Though there's
a lot of work to be done, he thinks Shree Renga is well positioned to make the most out of plastic trash. Senthil: Whether it's
recycling or renewable energy, this is the year of sustainability. And I think we are in the right space.

How 1.5 Million Plastic Bottles Are Turned Into Clothing Every Day | World Wide Waste

What you want to know about business. 

Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: https://www.businessinsider.com 
Business Insider on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider
Business Insider on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insiderbusiness
Business Insider on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/businessinsider
Business Insider on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/Business_Insider/5319643143
Business Insider on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessinsider

If you have a permissions or licensing request, please connect with our partners at PARS International who will be able to provide you with an accurate quote for the overall usage rights that you’re interested in. A representative from PARS will contact you shortly after filling out this request form: https://www.parsintl.com/publications/insider/
