
I started a business selling swim trunks made from recycled plastic bottles - patwalls
https://www.starterstory.com/recycled-swimwear
======
petermcneeley
Just like how the fastest function is the function that is never executed, the
most environmentally friendly discretionary purchase is the product never
bought.

~~~
sandworm101
Or never needed in the first place.

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glfharris
Their front page seems weirdly aggro towards two of their largest potential
markets, eco-minded people and surfers.

~~~
hoorayimhelping
> _We 're not the first to do so but we felt that all the brands out there
> tended to cater to tree-huggers and surfer bros. We wanted to make something
> different..._

Cool. I'll just stick to the brands that cater to me, a simple one dimensional
surfer bro then.

Everyone has these by the way.

[https://www.vissla.com/shop/eco-lastics/](https://www.vissla.com/shop/eco-
lastics/)

[https://www.volcom.com/products/deadly-
stones-20](https://www.volcom.com/products/deadly-stones-20)

[https://www.quiksilver.com/repreve-boardshorts-
collection/](https://www.quiksilver.com/repreve-boardshorts-collection/)

Billabong is claiming all their new boardshorts are recycled:
[https://www.billabong.com/mens-boardshorts/](https://www.billabong.com/mens-
boardshorts/).

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seltzered_
FWIW, there are yarn companies in the US that do recycled plastic yarns.
[http://www.patrickyarns.com/green-
recycled/earthspun/](http://www.patrickyarns.com/green-recycled/earthspun/)
does it, they've been sold via companies like PuraKai for shirts.

This said, I'm not sure if this is a good idea in the first place if it just
leaches out microplastics per Tharkun's comment.

If they wanted to be more open, Junk in your Trunks could consider showing
their full supply chain, similar to what services like
[https://www.sourcemap.com](https://www.sourcemap.com) do.

~~~
ackbar03
This was actually the first thing that came to mind. I thought a lot of the
microplastics came from these kinds of recycled plastic fabrics

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Tharkun
Do their products leach microplastics into the environment when washed?

~~~
tomp
My first thought as well. Plastic bottles are quite hard and almost
unbreakable (and when they break, the pieces aren't micro); in contrast,
clothing fibres made of plastic bend a lot, presumably break a lot and are
very micro...

~~~
jpalomaki
The larger plastic pieces turn to micro over time.

"Secondary plastics are small pieces of plastic derived from the breakdown of
larger plastic debris, both at sea and on land. Over time, a culmination of
physical, biological, and chemphotodegradation, including photodegradation
caused by sunlight exposure, can reduce the structural integrity of plastic
debris to a size that is eventually undetectable to the naked eye"[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics)

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ineedasername
tldr: They worked with an Alibaba manufacturer that already made recycled
shorts, and a designer to make their design. The rest is branding.

~~~
imglorp
Thank you.

I do wonder what a small business process and product would look like if it
was (a) made closer to the source of bottles, ie not offshore, and (b) not a
garment but something else useful.

The garment industry is highly unscalable and labor intensive so it's probably
out of the question for a first world startup. But maybe some other household
article, like sandals or furniture.

~~~
TaylorAlexander
I'm learning how to make 3d printed robots with useful printed gears etc. My
hope is that in the future I can use recycled materials. The PETG I print with
is the PET most bottles are made out of, plus the addition of glycol which I
believe makes it tougher.

However making PETG from PET bottles, assuming it is even possible, does not
seem like the best way to reuse plastics. I have wondered if you could make
building wall panels by dumping a bunch of used plastic bottles in a press and
using heat and pressure to fuse them together without ever chopping them or
doing any chemical reprocessing. I've also seen a company that sells a machine
to reprocess used plastic bottles in to plastic bricks. Using old plastic as a
building material sounds really interesting to me.

~~~
imglorp
Something like that is possible with plastic milk jugs. Just apply heat and
you end up with something like taffy that can be molded. Maybe wall panels
(with some filler like sawdust?) are feasible?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdKmq7Kjt0I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdKmq7Kjt0I)

~~~
cwkoss
Milk jugs are usually HDPE, which is much more easily recyclable.

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mikhailfranco
...but will the trunks be recycled?

If not, then it is just delaying the inevitable.

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bravoetch
For people that treat themselves like trash? I don't get it.

