A Golden Goal for the Environment

by Prakash Rangarajan on July 12, 2010

Finally the curtain is down on the football World Cup 2010, replete with all the gut wrenching drama associated with the No 1 team sport on Earth. On a personal note, the demise of the Brazilian samba and the Argentine ballet left a huge lump in the throat. The Spanish salsa had the final laugh though, the Dutch hard arm tactics not really
counting when it mattered most, must have made Cryuff wince at this Dutch parody of ‘Total Football’. It took all of 116 minutes for Iniesta to slot the winner,after which it was all over, bar the shouting.

Well, even before the tournament started, there was a Golden Goal scored for the environment too, courtesy nine teams who volleyed home the green message in the form of using eco friendly jerseys made from recycled bottles.Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal, USA, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia and Slovenia, all used official team jerseys made from recylced plastic bottles found in landfills. Arsenal has joined the green way too, its very recently showcased retro style kit made entirely from recycled polyster.

football

Going Green

According to the manufacturer Nike, it takes 30% less energy to produce these T-Shirts using recycled material than the traditional methods. By using existing resources, Nike has not only given a fillip to the Green agenda but also showcases possibilites that lie with sustainable fashion.  

The last word on this by Nike

If the recycled bottles used to produce the jerseys were laid end to end they would span more than 3,000 kilometers (roughly 1,860 miles), a distance that exceeds the entire South African coastline.

Well, how about blowing the final whistle by finding an alternative to plastic in the first place?

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