How on earth do fishing nets, fabric scraps and post consumer plastic waste come to be tough, durable, water resistant yarn that's made into reusable shopping bags?
The recycling for our yarns starts with rescuing a mix of waste including fishing nets, fabric scraps, carpet fluff and industrial plastic from landfill and oceans all over the world.
Healthy Seas is the organisation who have made it their mission to recover the ghost fishing nets. Last year 100 volunteer divers throughout 27 fishing communities collected 78 tonnes of fishing nets from the Mediterranean, Adriatic and North Sea.
Once recovered the nets and other waste were sent on to be washed, sorted and shredded into pieces small enough to be transformed via huge chemical reactors that break down the components of the material and regenerate them into polyamide 6. The final product of the process is ECONYL® recycled yarn, that’s what then becomes our reusable recycled solid colour and two-tone shopping bags.
It’s mind-blowing, complex recycling textile technology developed over four years by Aquafil, a company that originates in Italy . But it’s backed up by reassuring facts - for every 10,000 tonnes of ECONYL® raw material, 70,000 barrels of crude oil are saved and 57,100 tonnes are C02 eq. emissions are avoided. And when it comes to climate change? It reduces the global warming impact of nylon by up to 80% compared with nylon material made from oil.
Then there’s CYCLEPET® - the fabric that we are using to create our brand new Lane print reusable shopping bag range. It’s created from yarn woven from 100% recycled plastic bottles. That process begins with the rescuing of post-consumer plastic bottles - the very stuff that is sent to recycling bins. They’re broken down into pellets, that are melted and spun into PET fibre which is then woven into fabric.
The OTHER Bag was developed because we wanted stylish reusable shopping bags made from recycled materials with a production process that has a positive impact on our oceans and environment. Heard of closed loop production? That’s what we’re aiming for - a production process in which post-consumer waste is collected and recycled and used to make new products. Both ECONYL® and CYCLEPET® are generated from waste with none of the planets resources used to create them, making them part of a closed loop production process and part of the circular economy.
We hunted for reusable shopping bags that were strong, a great size, and so stylish that we’d want to keep on reusing them. When we couldn’t find them we decided to design our own, taking our beach-side surrounds as inspiration.
As Bondi Beach, Australia, locals we’re fortunate enough to live with the beach and ocean on our doorstep. And, we’d love to preserve what we have and undo some of the damage done for future generations. Our goal is to continue to work with innovative fabrics derived from recycled waste so your purchase will continue to have a positive impact.
To view our range of bags made from recycled and regenerated waste visit: https://theother-bag.com/collections/all
http://healthyseas.org/
Who is behind The Other Bag?
Abi Staniford and Claire Davey. We’re two Bondi Beach locals with a passion for protecting our iconic beach, our oceans and environment. Between us we have a background in fashion design, lifestyle journalism and small business. Hi.
The Other Bag range has been designed right here in Bondi and takes huge inspiration from the vivid colours of our neighbourhood. Think bright sunshine yellows, sky blues, ocean aqua and deep-ocean navy. The background to beach life in Australia and the daily life we’re lucky to live.
We searched long and hard for sustainable materials that have a positive environmental impact. By that we mean materials that are made from existing waste, and we found it in ECONYL® an innovative nylon we use in our single and two-tone bags, 100% regenerated from discarded fishing nets retrieved from the ocean and other nylon waste like carpet fluff. And, CyclePet that we use in our print range. That’s created from recycled plastic bottles.
Strong, durable and stylish to make us – and hopefully you – want to keep reusing The Other Bag range was a must. And they had to be fabulously water resistant. As beach regulars that’s important to us. As is the Fold Me Ups ability to lug home beautiful fresh produce from our weekend markets.
We're as new to the reusing lifestyle as all of you - and as busy, distracted and occasionally forgetful parents of five children between us, we recognise that we all might need a little help remembering reusables. For that we've added in some design elements that we're hoping will make us all successful reusers.
Developing The Other Bag has been a huge learning curve, and an exciting journey. It’s taken longer than we anticipated. And while we’ve learnt so much, we’re still learning because there are fabulous fabrics and accessories still being developed from existing waste that we’d love to be able to bring you in the future as our range grows. We hope you enjoy being part of our journey.
Follow us on Instagram at TheOtherBag for regular updates and visual inspiration.
Ethical and environmental
Developing The Other Bag has been a huge learning curve, and an exciting journey. Right from its inception – during a Bondi beachside conversation in 2017 – we’ve had ideals and goals that we want to achieve.
To be ocean friendly
To have a positive impact on our oceans, beaches and environment has become the corner-stone of our brand. As Bondi Beach locals we regularly see the effects of plastic pollution on our environment. Producing a reusable bag wasn’t enough, we wanted to use fabrics that tackled plastic and waste pollution. We found them in ECONYL® an innovative nylon we use in our single and two-tone bags, 100% regenerated from discarded fishing nets retrieved from the ocean and other nylon waste like carpet fluff. And CyclePet, that we use in our print range. That’s created from recycled plastic bottles. In using recycled PET fabrics, instead of new polyester, we produce less waste water, and considerably reduce crude oil consumption.
To work with socially responsible manufacturers
We wanted to create well-made, long lasting products. And, partner with a manufacturer with a genuine interest in their workers welfare. We found our talented seamstresses who’ve brought high-quality finishes to our bags in a small Chinese manufacturer, internationally certified to meet labour and ethical standards.
To be gentle on the environment
All our fabrics are blue-sign certified. To us that’s important. It’s an international standard which means that harmful substances are removed from the manufacturing process and that what we produce is done so safely and in an environmentally friendly way.
To use environmentally conscious accessories
For our zips we’ve partnered with YKK, a global leader in accessories manufacturing. YKK have developed their own philosophy, Cycle of Goodness, embodying their belief that no one prospers without rendering benefits to others, while also adhering to ISO 26000 a global guideline of standards in manufacturing covering workers welfare, fair wages and environmentally practices in production.
To use eco-friendly packaging
We’re proud to partner with the Better Packaging Co. to provide compostable post bags to send out our products. Our minimal packaging also includes recycled swing tickets, tissue paper and cards.
Our partners
To help preserve the beauty of our oceans and environment for future generations we will give 1% percent of our annual profits to our nominated charities the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (barrierreef.org) and Healthy Seas (healthyseas.org).
Comments
0 Comments