DALTON, GA.—Universal Textile Technologies (UTT) announced a new initiative to incorporate bottles collected from Grand Teton National Park into its manufacturing process. UTT converts the plastic bottles into a non-woven fleece material used to manufacture high-performance environmentally friendly backing for carpet and synthetic turf products. Now termed the PET Park Project, UTT is working in partnership with The Grand Teton National Park, Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling, CPE, Inc., and the United Soybean Board (USB).
Americans generate an enormous amount of waste material every day. In the Grand Teton park millions of annual visitors are educated on the positive aspects of recycling, including plastic bottles. This new partnership, called the PET Park Project, promotes the reuse of discarded plastic bottles, significantly reduces the amount of bottles that go to the landfill, and helps the park meet their recycling goals.
UTT incorporates the use of recycled bottles to manufacture BioCel and EnviroCel, environmentally-friendly, performance-based polyurethane backing systems for carpet and synthetic turf. Both BioCel and EnviroCel utilize recycled plastic bottles, combined with naturally renewable soybean-based polyols derived from domestically grown soybeans. UTT is a leader in the use of soy to reduce the petroleum content in its backing. The use of soy-based products and recycled plastics converted stateside help to support the U.S. economy and create American jobs. UTT is a charter member of the Biobased Products Coalition, the Carpet and Rug Institute, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), and is NSF 140 Certified.
Will Help Create Jobs
Many of the recyclable plastics collected in America are sold overseas, where they are used to produce plastic products that are later sold in the United States. This partnership will help produce American jobs by allowing American workers to convert the bottles and decrease the carbon footprint required in transportation overseas.
“Grand Teton National Park has proven its commitment to promoting beneficial environmental stewardship practices, and the PET Park Project is an excellent example of how private companies can work with the National Park Service to find innovative recycling solutions that benefit all of us,” said Margaret Wilson, Grand Teton National Park’s planner and sustainability coordinator.
The partnership represents a model system that can help increase the demand for recycled content in American-made products. With the help of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, Americans are now able to purchase carpets featuring recycled content from the parks.
“On average, two bottles out of 10 are recycled in America today, and our objective is to increase this number,” said Doug Giles, director of marketing for Universal Textile Technologies. “We hope the PET Park Project will increase awareness of the many opportunities for Americans to participate. We are excited to be a part of this project and look forward to continuing our partnership with the National Park Service.”
