Footballers are commonly becoming thought of as spoilt prima donnas - but here's this week's Friday feelin' story where they're actually wearing their shirts from recycled plastic bottles!

For example, Arsenal Football Club's new home kit for the 2010-11 season has bolted together modern green technology to a traditional design. Every shirt is made entirely from recycled polyester, using up to eight plastic water bottles, which sees the discarded plastic bottles diverted from landfills to be used in the manufacturing process.

While the 70s style shirt design is traditional, this up to date use of recycling technology is part of Nike’s ‘Considered Design’ programme. This aims to create performance products that minimise environmental impact by reducing waste during the design and development process, use environmentally preferred materials, and eliminate toxics. To make the kits, Nike uses discarded water bottles otherwise destined for landfill sites in Japan and Taiwan, where they can take up to 500 years to decompose. This saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30% compared to conventional fabrics.

The bottles are placed in a large washing machine to clean them and get rid of labels before they are chopped into tiny flakes and melted down into a yarn that is ultimately spun to make the fabric for the jerseys and shorts. Use of recycled polyester across its new range of club kits means Nike has saved nearly 13 million plastic water bottles, a total of around 254,000 kg of polyester waste - enough to cover more than 29 football pitches, and to stretch over 3,000 kilometres if laid out end-to-end.

The improved Nike Dri-Fit fabric, now 13% lighter than previous kits, helps to quickly evaporate moisture by drawing it through the fabric to the surface, to keep players dry. Ventilation zones on the sides of the jersey enhance breathability by up to 7%. And the double knit structure of the jersey gives it 10% more stretch.
 
The process is used for all shirts and shorts, whether worn by the players or available to fans. Other clubs using Nike kits using recycled materials include FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United and Celtic. On the international stage, the technology is used for Brazil, Portugal, The Netherlands, USA and Australia.
 
Arsenal's Theo Walcott summed the new kit up: “The colours are very traditional, it feels nice and it’s made from recycled plastic bottles so what more can you ask for? It fits and feels nice, and that’s the most important thing. I think it’s important that you feel comfortable in it.” 

Alex Song said: “The shirt is traditional, it’s red and white which the fans love, and it shows the history of the Club. I watched Arsenal on TV lots when I was young and just saw red and white. If someone told me six or seven years ago I’d be able to wear these colours it would have been unbelievable, so today I’m so happy to wear this shirt and to do my best for this shirt.”

The new Arsenal home shirt is priced £45 for adults (£50 long sleeved) with children’s shirts at £35 (£40 long sleeved). The Armoury, All Arsenal, Finsbury Park and Enfield stores will be open 9am – 5.30pm on Thursday 29th July.

Posted on Environment Times Online on 16th July 2010.