Major high-street brands accused of greenwashing as polyester clothes made from recycled plastic bottles are shown to be environmentally disastrous

A new video released today from the Changing Markets Foundation with plastic pollution campaigning organisation City to Sea myth busts the use of recycled bottles for clothing, exposing it as an environmentally destructive practice which also allows brands to greenwash their collections.

High-street retailer H&M reported that 90% of its recycled polyester comes from single-use plastic bottles while most companies (85%) examined indicated they aim to achieve their ‘recycled’ polyester targets by using polyester from downcycled PET bottles. Retailers like Nike, H&M, Primark and Zara’s parent group, Inditex, all rely on the false solution of downcycling single-use plastic bottles to meet its demand for synthetic polyester.