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EPA's design competition focuses on recycled fabric

Environmentally friendly designers can now dress for success in fabrics made from recycled PET bottles and win up to NT$120,000 in a creative fashion design competition sponsored by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

The competition is designed to raise public awareness in the public of the importance and ease of putting theory into practice and use recycled materials in making things that are new and functional, EPA Minister Winston Dang (陳重信) said.

"Since the emergence of global warming and the energy crisis, it is the responsibility of everyone on the Earth to care for our planet and preserve its resources," he said. "Environmental protection can be easily done in everyday life, it can also be blended into various aspects of life, such as fashion designs."

PET refers to polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most common consumer plastics used, and is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family that is very commonly used in synthetic fibers and bottles or food containers.

"Taiwanese recycle 90,000 tonnes of PET bottles a year," Dang said, "which translates to 4.5 billion 600 milliliter bottles -- enough to go around Taiwan 1,080 times."

Recycling the bottles was estimated to save NT$280 million (US$8.7 million) annually on garbage processing expenses, while creating NT3.5 billion in recycled raw materials called post-consumer PET, Dang said.

To enter the competition, designers must submit design sketches for clothing or upholstery using recycled PET fabrics that bear the "Green Mark" certified by the EPA.

The competition, which started on Thursday, will be held in two stages. Contestants can sign up for two subcategories: the practical group and the creative group.

The competition's first stage will close on March 23, after which 10 finalists will be selected from each group to design 15 different types of EPA-Green Mark recycled PET fabric.

Total prizes have a combined value of NT$1 million and the winners will walk away with NT$120,000 each.

So far the administration has granted the Green Mark to 3,640 products that together bring in an annual revenue of NT$80.5 billion for Taiwan, saving 147 million kilowatts of electricity, 48 million tonnes of water, and 96,000 tonnes of carbon emission in the process, Dang said.

More information about the competition can be found online at recycle.epa.gov.tw.

For more information about Green Mark products, visit greenliving.epa.gov.tw.
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