R ECYCLE The earth is drowning in plastic—8.3 billion tons to be exact, a number so large it’s nearly impossible to comprehend, except to say that the annual production has surpassed the entire weight of humanity. Let that sink in. It’s a devastating quantity, made worse if you consider that 91 percent
used parts—sleeves, cuffs, hoods, down baffles—with factory cuttings
of all plastic waste has never been recycled. Even the stuff that gets
and leftover fabric to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind mashups. And
thrown in the blue bin is a problem. China and India have stopped
by pioneering ways to use recycled content in the products we make,
taking most imported plastic and, as a result, usable plastic is ending
we’re transforming what would be waste into something that’s good—
up in landfills, getting incinerated or parked on a barge to nowhere.
and in some cases, better than new.
We’re watching another victory for the environmental movement, one
that’s been in place since the early 1970s, erode before our eyes.
the early ‘90s, when it became apparent that everything we made pol-
This is why we’re dedicating an entire Patagonia Gear issue to
luted. We released our first postconsumer recycled product in 1993—a
recycling. Not because we have all the answers, but because we’re
green Synchilla® fleece made from recycled soda bottles. A year later,
Patagonia first started experimenting with recycled materials in
determined to do our part. Through our Worn Wear program, we
we helped establish a program for outdoor clothing companies to col-
repair what needs fixing so it can remain in service longer. Our new
lect and recycle the scraps from their fleece-cutting operations, and we
ReCrafted line keeps even more clothing out of landfills by combining
started making kids’ clothes from leftover pieces of our adult patterns.
Previous: In 1987, a barge named Mobro carried 3,100 tons of Islip Town and New York City trash at sea for over two months and about 6,000 miles, looking for a dumpsite. Thirty-two years later, the larger problem of where to ship it all continues. DENNIS CAPOLONGO
Left: A worker stops to rest while picking through trash in a Bangladeshi landfill. Shifts at the dump average 10 hours per day. BORJA SÁNCHEZTRILLO/GET T Y IMAGES
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