Brazil vs. the Netherlands: The most Eco-Friendly Quarterfinal?
Brazil vs. the Netherlands: The most Eco-Friendly Quarterfinal?
Posted by Eric Beard
Nike earned a lot of respect for me by making all of their World Cup sponsored sides’ kits with 8 recycled plastic bottles. As we look at the World Cup bracket, the Netherlands vs. Brazil will be the final Nike vs. Nike (or plastic bottles vs. plastic bottles) match-up, as Germany, Argentina, and Spain are sponsored by Adidas while Uruguay, Ghana, and Paraguay have other shirt sponsors. I know 8 plastic bottles may not seem like much, but 13 million plastic bottles have been diverted from landfill by using recycled polyester for Nike-sponsored national team jerseys, preventing a total of around 254,000 kg of polyester waste, from being buried at landfill sites. It kind of blows my mind that these soccer jerseys have used enough recycled material to cover more than 29 football pitches, and if each recycled bottle used to make these jerseys was laid end to end they would cover over 3,000 kilometres, more than the entire coastline of South Africa.
