With Vancouver having just been declared the "Green Capital," it's fitting that a local business has launched a new product that could save thousands of plastic bottles from ending up in landfills.
International Flag and Banner Inc., one of Canada's largest flag and banner manufacturers, recently unveiled Echotex, a material composed entirely of recycled materials.
The polyester fabric is the only one of its kind in the world, and is considered to be as durable, if not more so, than the nylon flags traditionally produced across Canada.
"It feels just like a nylon banner ... you wouldn't know the difference," said Susan Braverman, general manager of International Flag and Banner. "It seems to fade more slowly than regular nylon."
Braverman estimates that around 30,000 banners are printed yearly in Canada, the majority of them using nylon. She hopes that all banners will one day be produced using Echotex.
"There's so many nylon and vinyl banners ... when those banners are done, they end up in a landfill," she said.
"We're taking products that are going to end up in a landfill and we're turning them into a banner."
Though Echotex was too new a product to promote at the time Flag and Banner was arranging its Olympic orders, if there are any last-minute Games needs she's hoping to fill them with the eco-friendly fabric.
"We'll make sure everyone knows about it," she said. "For our customers, it's basically the same cost as non-recycled, so why wouldn't you do it?"
And just so consumers can feel even more environmentally at ease, once the Echotex banners are finished with, they are transformed into tote bags by the company's Banner-to-Bag initiative.
"That bag will last virtually forever," Braverman said, adding that a faded banner works great as a chic bag. "It looks cute."
> The lowdown:
- Vancouver is the first city in Canada to have its flags and banners made with Echotex
- Around three-and-a-half 500 ml plastic bottles are used in the production of one average size banner
- 80 per cent of the fabric is made of scraps from textile floors.
