PhotographY: Mountain Smith camera bags
The
fundamental principle behind Mountainsmith's
philosophy is versatility rolled into an
eco-friendly construction utilizing 100%
recycled PET fabric. These recycled bags and
packs are outdoor-athletics-influenced, designed
with comfort and function in mind for those who
want one bag to serve a dual purpose between
daily urban grind and weekend adventure.
Recycled Materials are the future. The bottles
used come from all over Asia including Japan,
China, Taiwan, and Korea. Those are the
countries that have taken the financial
initiative to utilize plastic bottles for
recycling into fabric. The bottles are
processed, cleaned and converted to flakes
before being shipped from these countries to
Taiwan for actual yarn conversion.
Mountainsmith understands that recycling plastic
bottles has the potential to play a role that
will lead to less reliance on petroleum
resources, the benefit of which is obvious 24/7
by reading the news and watching television.
Other benefits include increased employment in
the recycling industry and lessened impact on
landfills. In the U.S. alone, plastic bottles
account for roughly 20% of solid waste and
nearly two-thirds of all bottles produced end up
in landfills. The recycling process utilizes
plastic bottles, grinds them up into small chips
and plastic flakes. The chips are spun into a
fibre and woven into fabric. The fabric is then
coated three times with a protective
polyurethane.
The material, polyethylene terphthalate, (aka
PET) is a thermoplastic resin of the polyester
family used to make beverage, food, and other
liquid containers and synthetic fibres. It is
also one of the most important raw materials
used in man-made fibres. PET is commonly used in
soft drink bottles and many injection-moulded
consumer product containers.
