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Show ONCE A BOTTLE/continued company were afraid to mention that the fabric orfill came from recycled majorplastic-recycling plant in New material. Now, he acknowledges,it is Jersey. a greatselling point. In fact, some Fromthis outdoorstoragearea,the firms—like Eastern Mountain Sports, balesofbottles are carted into a huge, a New Hampshire-based, 49-store automatedfactory to be turned into chain—say the recycled itemsoutsell textiles. The bottles are separated by the otherfleece clothes they carry. color, purified, cleaned, choppedinto Environmentalistor not, Sabourin’s small flakes, then melted and spun into workalready has madehim thedarling fine threads, often no thicker than a of many environmental groups. He humanhair. even has putin recent appearancesat Sabourin will log more than 100,000 separate high-profile events with Vice miles this year in search of bottles— President Al Gore and the born-again trying to get potential clients to sell environmental advocate Mikhail their bottles to his company and en- Gorbachev. But Sabourin sayshestill couraging recyfacesresi from cling programs. “A 4 communities unsure big part of my job Dont Call It about the economics is getting more ofcurbside recycling communities to age and from some in the commit to curbside © Fleece fabric is made =. PET plastics industry who oa Bence nye A meeeanakeat a Eh Roe cea nY here aca aeran ever before,” Ranta Ceesot recycling —_pro- (polyethylene terephthalat grams,” he says. Bacapeuedforsink are threatened by the prospectthat recy- “We are always willing to talk to new communities, More PET is recycled one other piastic nesin—about 30%, © More than 50 types of products advising them varadeTroe Seaath * les—i ‘itchen about the equiptpicarpetwsto fiberfili to cled products will cutinto their market. “One of my big- gest challenges is 7 ‘a COUntering — nay- mentthey’ll need to buy andassuring them that the market for recycled ic is ali gphotstered furniture. sayers in the industry, who claim that recycling isn’t working,” Sabourin says. “ © In 1993, more tlthan 450 million pounds of PET plastic (3.6 billion botties) were recycled in 3000 curbside rams involving le isalive and_ Last ormilion mtneus, ell” year,heuscholde 7100 curbside x Jf anybody says there’s no roomfor ‘The issue iS programs were ee plastics recycling, taking responsibil~ r just send them to ity for our own talk to me.”In fact, trash,” Sabourin today, demand for adds, sounding like recycled plastic an environmentalmade from bottles ist. But, heinsists, exceeds supply. “T wouldn't be in Besides Wellman, this businessif it other majorplastic wasn’tprofitable.” recyclers include The bottom line is Martin Color-Fi, that, in this case at Image Industries and least, saving the enJohnson Controls. vironmentis good Whenhetravels business. in search of new Either as envisources of plastic ‘ Recycled bottles ronmentalist or melted and spun into finetoreats. bottles, Sabourin ae SaSays, he alwaystries bourin has comea long way from his to pack some ofthe clothing made working-class upbringing. At age 16, he from them. “Thetangible clothing followed his grandfather's footsteps as items alwaysseem to inspire people,” atextile millworker and landed hisfirst he explains. “Forthefirst time, conjob, dyeing woolat a mill in Pawtucket, sumers can really make the connection R.L. He wenton to earn a master’s de- betweenputtingplastic bottles in their gree in textile engineering and spent recycling bin andseeing a top-quality more than a decadeselling textiles productonthe shelf.It feels good.”It aroundthe world. He came to Wellman in 1984, For a free guidebook to community Technological developments and en- PETplastic-bottie recyciing, write: vironmental consciousness have com- National Association for Plastic bined to help Sabourin’s job mush- Container Recovery, 3770 Nationsroom in size over the past several years. Bank Corporate Center, Dept. P, 100 Atfirst, he recalls, salespeople at the N, Tryon St., Charlotte, N.C. 28202. . ALWAYS LOW PRICES. ALWAYS WAL-MART, Alw ©1906 WAL-MART PAGE 12 MAY 26, 1995 : PARADE MAGAZINE |
