A member of group tells participants about the socks made from recycled plastic bottles. — Photo courtesy of Re.socks

HCM CITY — A project in HCM City is creating pairs of socks from recycled plastic bottles.

And anyone who donated bottles to the scheme last week were given a pair of socks in exchange.

Lê Hồng Như was among those in line in Phú Nhuận District’s Ward 8, ready to swap her bottles for socks.

She believes plastic waste is a major environmental problem and was happy to provide a helping hand.

Như said the idea to create socks from discarded bottles could help reduce the amount of unnecessary waste.

The event was organised on April 24 and 25 by a group of youngsters under the name Re.Socks.

Hoàng Quý Bình, team leader, told Gia đình &Xã hội online newspaper that recycled plastic could be used to make many products.

“When we recycled plastic bottles to weave them into clothes or socks, we would help reduce the impact of plastic waste on environment,” he said.

The plastic used to make the socks must be PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, which can be pulled out into soft fibres.

Bình also said fibres made from coffee grounds could be reused and the team planned to combine the two kinds of fibres in the future to produce socks and clothes.

Via the event, the team wanted to call upon people to minimise plastic waste and protect the environment.

“We want to show people the value of recycled plastic bottles, they could make useful items to serve our daily life,” he said.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once - and then thrown away.

Researchers estimate that more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced since the early 1950s. About 60 per cent of that plastic has ended up in either a landfill or the natural environment. Only 9 per cent of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. — VNS