New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been at the forefront to make the fight against climate change, a people’s movement. He has walked the talk too, seen plogging at a beach in Mahabalipuram in 2019.
Yesterday, the PM donned a blue jacket that had his green message written all over it. The light-blue sleeveless ‘sadri’ jacket he wore to Parliament was special because it had been made from discarded and recycled PET bottles. He was in the Parliament to deliver a Motion of Thanks to the President’s address in the Lok Sabha.
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had ordered the manufacture of the special jacket and it was presented to PM Modi by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai at the India Energy Week in Bengaluru last week. Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha yesterday tweeted the photo of the CM presenting the jacket to the PM.
At the event, Modi launched the ‘unbottled’ initiative and flagged the commercial roll-out of a twin-cooktop model of the company’s indoor solar cooking system. More than 10 crore PET bottles will be recycled to make sustainable garments for IOC employees and the Armed Forces, said a company press release. During the event, the PM also received an Argentina football team jersey — with star striker Lionel Messi’s name on the back. It was gifted by Pablo Gonzalez, the President of YPF — a majority State-owned Argentine energy company.
Available for public
The jacket that the PM wore in the Parliament will be available in major cities within three months, said Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) Chairman, S.M. Vaidya. He said that within three months, jackets made by recycled plastic waste bottles will be available to all the people.
People will be able to buy the jacket on the retail outlets of oil marketing companies (OMC) such as IOCL, BPCL and HPCL Vaidya said that recycled product will not be limited to just to oil marketing companies or army personnels.
How the jacket was made?
Indian Oil explained how they made the garment. It said that the process of making the fabric from discarded bottles involves washing, drying and crushing of collected PET bottles into small chips. The chips are then heated and passed through a spinneret to form polyester staple fibre which is given a fluffy, woolly texture in a crimping machine.
This polyester staple fibre is then spun to produce yarn which is further knitted or woven into polyester fabric. The process is pretty similar for other companies too that recycle plastic into fabric for clothes and shoes. It takes about six recycled bottles to make a T-shirt, six bottles to make a bodysuit, nine bottles to make a sleepsuit and nine to make a dress.
This post was published on February 9, 2023 7:56 pm