Braiding Plastic: A Brazilian Firm Turns Plastic Waste into Rope

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A firm in Brazil is taking plastic bottles out of landfills and repurposing them as high quality rope. According to the Arteplas Web site, the firm, which uses 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, plastic bottles to turn out 550 tons of rope, is the largest producer of PET cords in Latin America. Treehugger reports that their product is both higher quality and cheaper than traditional rope constructed from fibres:

Arteplas have independent analysis from a third party assessor showing that their recycling processes for rope use 70% less energy than ropes from virgin materials. Their plant employing up to 400 local people produces ropes range from 4.7 mm to 51mm (3/16" to 2") in thickness for the following markets: transportation, fishing, agriculture, cattle, construction, sports, nautical services and domestic use.

Given the success of the company and the quality of the product, perhaps more PET firms could cut down on the high percentage of plastic waste. I only wonder about the intensity of a plastic rope burn.