I see a lot of handmade goodies listing “ecofelt” as a material, and while I knew ecofelt comes from plastic bottles, I wanted to learn a little bit more. So, using the trusty internet, I did a bit of digging.

Kunin, an eco felt supplier, lists their fabrics as being made of eco-fi (formerly ecospun). Here’s the condensed description of the recycling process, from eco-fi’s website:

Plastic PET containers are picked up at curbside and community recycling centers, and then sorted by type and color. They are stripped of their labels and caps, washed, and crushed, then chopped into flake. These tiny pieces are melted and extruded to create fiber. The fiber produced is crimped, cut, drawn and stretched into desired length for strength, then baled. The baled fiber can be processed into fabric for a variety of textile product end uses.

Eco-fi is, essentially, polyester fiber made from 100% recycled PET plastic bottles. Pretty cool, right? Their fibers go into more than just felt. Other fabrics, batting, even carpeting can all be manufactured from eco-fi. And it can be blended with other fibers to create a wider range of textures. The best part is that eco-fi fibers (so they say) are “chemically and functionally nearly identical to those made from non-recycled fiber.” They just come from bottles that might otherwise be in a landfill, instead of depleting natural resources (and using up a whole bunch of oil) to make new fibers.

Pretty nice. I have a whole new resepct for felt, in all its candy-colored wonder.

AWESOME eco-felt wall art from DashingEtc, bottle photo via wikimedia