question: How do you make clothes from plastic bottles?
comment: Interestingly enough, and I just learned this, a large number of bottles (specifically soda, water, etc) are made out of the very same material as polyester clothing. Take a look at the bottom of your water bottle. It likely says “PET” or “PETE”. That stands for polyethylene terephthalate. Another name for this is “polyester”. When the plastic is made, is can be blow molded into a bottle, or drawn into super long and thin strands and woven into clothing (or other end use products). So it’s as simple (if you can call it simple) for the companies to take synthetic fiber clothes, separate out the polyester parts of it, carefully clean (and do some other more complicated separation processes) and the melt down the plastic. Then reform it into a bottle! Likewise, you do the reverse for turning bottles into clothes. Melt the bottle, clean, etc, draw into a fiber and weave!
passages: PET bottle recycling
  
  Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET, sometimes PETE) can be used to make lower grade products, such as carpets. To make a food grade plastic, the bottles need to be hydrolysed down to monomers, which are purified and then re-polymerised to make new PET. 
  
  In many countries, PET plastics are coded with the resin identification code number "1" inside the universal recycling symbol, usually located on the bottom of the container.
  
  Section::::Usage of PET.
   PET plastics are also known as Polyethylene terephthalate(PETE). PET's recycling code, the number within the three chasing arrows, is one. These plastics are usually beverage bottles (i.e. water, soda, and fruit juice bottles). According to the EPA, plastic accounts for 12% of the total amount of waste we produce. Recycling plastic reduces air, water, and ground pollution. Recycling is only the first step; investing and purchasing products manufactured from recycled materials is the next of many steps to living sustainably.Clothing can be made from plastics. Seventy percent of plastic-derived fabrics come from polyester, and the type of polyester most used in fabrics is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET plastic clothing come from reused plastics, often recycled plastic bottles. The Coca-Cola Company, for example, created a "Drink2Wear" line of T-shirts made from recycled bottles. Generally, PET plastic clothing are made from recycled bottles as follows: plastic bottles are collected, compressed, baled, and shipped into processing facilities where they will be chopped into flakes, and melted into small white pellets. Then, the pellets are processed again, and spun into yarn-like fiber where it can be made into clothing. One main benefit of making clothes from recycled bottles is that it keep the bottles and other plastics from occupying landfill space. Another benefit is that it takes 30% less energy to make clothes from recycled plastics than from virgin polyesters.
   Besides this external (post-consumer) polyester bottle recycling, numbers of internal (pre-consumer) recycling processes exist, where the wasted polymer material does not exit the production site to the free market, and instead is reused in the same production circuit. In this way, fiber waste is directly reused to produce fiber, preform waste is directly reused to produce preforms, and film waste is directly reused to produce film.
  
  Section::::Polyester recycling industry.:PET bottle recycling.
  
  Section::::Polyester recycling industry.:PET bottle recycling.:Purification and decontamination.
   When talking about polyester recycling industry, we are concentrating mainly on recycling of PET bottles, which are meanwhile used for all kinds of liquid packaging like water, carbonated soft drinks, juices, beer, sauces, detergents, household chemicals and so on. Bottles are easy to distinguish because of shape and consistency and separate from waste plastic streams either by automatic or by hand-sorting processes. The established polyester recycling industry consists of three major sections:
  
  BULLET::::- PET bottle collection and waste separation: waste logistics
  
  BULLET::::- Production of clean bottle flakes: flake production
  
  BULLET::::- Conversion of PET flakes to final products: flake processing
   Section::::Global statistics.
  
  Worldwide, approximately 7.5 million tons of PET were collected in 2011. This gave 5.9 million tons of flake. In 2009 3.4 million tons were used to produce fibre, 500,000 tons to produce bottles, 500,000 tons to produce APET sheet for thermoforming, 200,000 tons to produce strapping tape and 100,000 tons for miscellaneous applications.
   This 2019, Wright also advertise a product from a sustainable clothing company Fair Harbor. About 11 plastic bottles are recycled for each pair of swimming shorts and eight plastic bottles are recycled in making a women's swimsuit. With the help of recycling plastic bottles through swimsuits, it is been able to reduce plastic trashes at a percentage of 23% out of 50 billion plastic bottles every year in United States. The recycled plastic is broken down into polyfibers that are spun into yarn and woven into a soft fabric which is comfortable to wear, according to Bonnie Wright.
  
  Section::::Personal life.
   Once the design is created, it is then cut through the material using a vinyl cutter (or Cut n Press) machine.
  
  There are dozens of different colors available, as well as glitter, reflective, and now even unique patterns (such as mermaid skin) which come in rolls and sheets.
  
  After the design is cut, there is a process called “weeding” whereby the areas of the design that do not represent the design are picked away from the transfer sheet and removed so that the intended design remains. 
   In the second step, the preforms are heated rapidly and then inflated against a two-part mold to form them into the final shape of the bottle. Preforms (uninflated bottles) are now also used as robust and unique containers themselves; besides novelty candy, some Red Cross chapters distribute them as part of the Vial of Life program to homeowners to store medical history for emergency responders.
   PVC clothing
  
  PVC clothing, commonly known as "vinyl clothing", is shiny clothing made of the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC). PVC plastic is also called vinyl. For this reason, this type of clothing is also called vinyl clothing. PVC is sometimes confused with the similarly shiny patent leather.
  
  The terms "PVC", "vinyl" and "PU" tend to be used interchangeably by retailers for clothing made from shiny plastic-coated fabrics. These fabrics
   Intermediate product from the first section is baled bottle waste with a PET content greater than 90%. Most common trading form is the bale but also bricked or even loose, pre-cut bottles are common in the market. In the second section, the collected bottles are converted to clean PET bottle flakes. This step can be more or less complex and complicated depending on required final flake quality. During the third step, PET bottle flakes are processed to any kind of products like film, bottles, fiber, filament, strapping or intermediates like pellets for further processing and engineering plastics.
   For specialized polyester-based materials the recycling process is significantly different. The first step is to remove the buttons and zippers; then the garments are cut into small pieces. The shredded fabric is then granulated and formed into small pellets. The pellets are broken down polymerized and turned into polyester chips. The chips are melted and spun into new filament fiber used to make new polyester fabrics.
  
  Some companies are creating new pieces of clothing from scraps of old clothes. By combining and making new additions, the eclectic garments are marketed as a type of style.
   Some plastics are remelted to form new plastic objects; for example, PET water bottles can be converted into polyester destined for clothing. A disadvantage of this type of recycling is that the molecular weight of the polymer can change further and the levels of unwanted substances in the plastic can increase with each remelt.
  
  Section::::Recycling industrial waste.:Plastic recycling.:Chemical recycling.
   The bands Talking Heads, The B-52's and Devo were all big fans of Plastics and were instrumental in getting their albums released in the United States. Their mainstream exposure began when Toshio Nakanishi designed a tour program book for Talking Heads and slipped David Byrne a tape of Plastics demos. Byrne promptly sent it to the B-52's' manager who offered to represent them internationally.
   Section::::Textiles.
  
  In many countries, there is an active market in re-selling used clothes. In Britain, this dominated by charity shops who sell donated clean clothes. Less saleable clothes are put into the re-cycling waste stream. 
  
  Textiles are made of a variety of materials including cotton, wool, synthetic plastics, linen, modal and a variety of other materials. The textile's composition will affect its durability and method of recycling.
   Bottle recycling
  
  Bottles are able to be recycled and this is generally a positive option. Bottles are collected via kerbside collection or returned using a bottle deposit system. Bottlerecycle.org/ reveals that just 14% of all plastic packaging is recycled globally PET bottles production is predicted to grow by about 5% a year. Currently just over half of plastic bottles are recycled globally About 1 million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and only about 50% are recycled.
  
  Section::::Glass bottles.
   With regard to the consumption of PET bottle flakes, the main portion of about 70% is converted to fibers and filaments. When using directly secondary materials such as bottle flakes in spinning processes, there are a few processing principles to obtain.
   BULLET::::- Sale of all post industrial material (returned bottles, cans and plastic), cardboard, pallets and metal drums to recycling companies.
  
  BULLET::::- Use of shredding machines both in Barbados, which shred returned plastic (PET) bottles (post consumption). The shredded plastic is packed in sacks and exported to international recycling companies. The PET flakes are used by these companies to make various things like carpeting, wall insulation, and polyester T-shirts.
   In Europe, more than one-third of recovered PET plastic is used to produce polyester fibers, and another quarter is used in the production of preformed plastic containers—such as egg cartons, fruit boxes, and other plastic beverage bottles.
  
  Section::::Water and Energy Usage.
   Contemporary designs are almost exclusively made of one of several types of plastics, especially polyethylene or polycarbonate. They are typically as light as, or lighter than, their metal equivalents and are quite resistant to developing leaks, even when dropped or severely bumped.
   BULLET::::3. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, Jo Stodgel is encouraging his community to stuff eco-bricks with creative workshops for youth, river cleanup projects, and design / build projects. He is also innovating solutions to make the practice much more accessible and easy, such as using milk cartons instead of bottles.
  
  BULLET::::4. In Serbia a math professor Tomislav Radovanovic spent five years turning 13,500 plastic bottles into his dream home. The teacher's former students helped him.
   Different coloured PVC garments, especially white, should be stored separately from each other, otherwise staining may occur. PVC clothing is best stored hanging in a garment bag away from other clothing.
  
  The fabric used for PVC clothes is typically plastic-coated polyester. This PVC fabric is more resistant to wear and tear than rubber, and PVC clothing does not require the use of any shining products. However one can polish PVC clothing if desired with liquid silicone spray which is available from car accessory shops.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Fetish fashion
  
  BULLET::::- 1960s in fashion
  
  BULLET::::- Catsuits and bodysuits in popular media
   In 2008 the amount of post-consumer PET bottles collected for recycling and sold in the United States was approx. 1.45 billion pounds.
  
  In 2012, 81% of the PET bottles sold in Switzerland were recycled.
  
  Increasing energy prices may increase the volume of recycling PET bottles. In Europe, the EU Waste Framework Directive mandates that by 2020 there should be 50% recycling or reuse of plastics from household streams.
   One of the solutions for using all the unrecycled glass was to “turn trash to treasures” and make drinking glasses, ashtrays, lampshades and earrings out of the empty bottles.
  
  After a few weeks of research, volunteer Isa set up the glass upcycling workshop on Gili T using locally available tools and a local worker, Zul, was trained to create products out of discarded bottles.
   Plastic clothing
  
  Plastic clothing – as distinct from clothing made from plastic-based artificial fibers – has existed almost since the creation of flexible plastics, particularly as a material for waterproof clothing.
  
  During the 1960s, there was great enthusiasm for plastic and paper garments as futuristic clothing such as plastic raincoats, which were far lighter and cheaper than mackintoshes or gaberdine raincoats, and could also be manufactured in bright colours or made transparent or translucent.
   Some reusable shopping bags are made of plastic film, fibers, or fabric.
  
  Section::::History.
  