A fabric made from 100% certified post-consumer recycled PET bottles makes use of our virtually endless supply of plastic bottle waste.

An estimated 8 out of 10 plastic bottles end up in the landfill annually, with an average of 230 bottles per person per year ending their usefulness buried under the rest of the trash. That’s a heck of a lot of raw materials, just waiting for a second life, and if we can choose to buy new products made from recycled plastic bottles, the less virgin resources are needed and less ends up in the landfill.

Earlier, I featured 8 bottles, which makes shirts out of recycled PET bottles, so I was jazzed to hear about GreenSmart, a bag company which sews a line of eco friendly backpacks, messenger bags, lunch ‘boxes’ and laptop sleeves out of 100% post-consumer recycled PET bottle fabric. It’s one of those ideas that just makes sense: Use a widely available raw material which is already on its second life to manufacture quality products made to last.



Part of the philosophy behind GreenSmart’s business is that “even the smallest of positive actions every day can result in big changes toward a better product and a better environment in the long run.” The company’s approach to success is made with 3 criteria in mind: people, product and planet.

”We can all agree that less landfill is good, and less energy used to make products makes sense, too, not to mention lots of other greensmarter ideas. Polluting the planet for profit is a short sighted business model that serves no one. We believe businesses can be positive change agents and still be profitable, innovative and transparent in their pursuit to creating a better product and a better planet. That is why GreenSmart will always be visionary in its effort to seek greener materials and work with our suppliers to utilize energy-efficient, eco-conscious and people sensitive ways to produce our products.” - GreenSmart

The fabric used by GreenSmart is the result of multiple steps, from hand sorting (to remove any non-PET materials), to packing in bales of over 6000 bottles (enough for 350 yards of the finished fabric), grinding into PET flakes, separation of the highest quality flakes, and then twisting the resulting fibers into yarn. Once made into PET yarn, it can be woven into fabric and used as any other. Each yard of the finished fabric uses about eighteen 16 oz. plastic bottles worth of material, and saves 10,000 Btus of energy from manufacturing.





GreenSmart was generous enough to send me one of their messenger bags, the Baringo, to review, and one of the first things I noticed was the tag on the outside that emphasizes “31 plastic bottles were given a second life to make this bag”. Putting a number to the amount of bottles used for each bag is a great way to get people thinking about the issue of just how many bottles are made and thrown away each year.



The Baringo bag is a good-sized messenger bag, with a flat bottom to ensure a large carrying capacity and a padded sleeve/pocket that fits laptops up to 15.6”. The company calls it a messenger bag, but it’s more of a messenger-style bag, not necessarily a bonafide bike commuting bag (although it certainly could be used that way). It has numerous inside pockets, a zippered outside pocket, and a water bottle pocket on each side - each pocket big enough to fit my 40 oz. water bottle easily.

The bag is well made, with strong seams, a top handle, and well-sewn components, and the four color choices available for the Baringo give you a chance to coordinate your wardrobe with your daily carrying bag.

One argument against selling more new consumer goods (even if they are made out of recycled materials) is that even as green as they may be, it still promotes consumption. To that, GreenSmart president and co-founder Tom Larsen says:

”I would like to think GreenSmart is making things people find useful in their lives, not products that are used once or twice and discarded. To be more specific, we operate on a principal that we have come to call “displacement theory.” Displacement theory to us is the knowledge that every time a consumer makes a choice to GreenSmart, they make a choice that is not to a non-eco-conscious competitor. Our goal is to out-compete the virgin material guys.” - Sustainablog

To further highlight the environmental commitment of GreenSmart, the company’s products are named after endangered species, such as this bag, the Baringo (The Baringo is the second most endangered giraffe subspecies with only a few hundred left, named after the Lake Baringo area of Kenya). They also donate 10% of their profits to supporting non-profit organizations working to protect the environment.

So if you’re looking for a new back-to-school bag or something to carry your gear to and from work or play, consider a GreenSmart bag. They’re stylish, well made, and give a second life to one of our culture’s biggest environmental disasters: plastic bottles.

Follow @BeGreenSmart on Twitter and be sure to check out the GreenSmart Facebook Page.