With the FIFA World Cup in Brazil capturing media attention around the globe, French newspaper Le Figaro ran a column by Anthony Bleux on Thursday saying “Taiwan has [already] won its world cup.”
The cause for the claim? Taiwan’s pioneering venture into breaking down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and successfully recycling plastic into textiles put the words “Made in Taiwan” on the clothing of 10 national teams participating in the World Cup, the report said.
The material is more comfortable and sweat-absorbent than cotton, and it is made from an abundant resource in Taiwan, which consumes 4.5 billion plastic bottles a year, the report said.
The report added that using such materials to make clothing reduces energy usage by 30 percent.
The coloring of the material depends on the color of the bottles recycled in the process, the report said.
According to the report, when most of the world moved its factories to China in search of lower costs, Taiwanese textile manufacturers — such as Ecomax Textile, Eclat Textile, Singtex Industrial and Super Textile Corp — had to become innovative to boost their competitive edge, spurring the textile industry to launch decade-long research into breaking down PET in 1996.
Despite claims that PET bottles were not dissoluble and would not decompose for up to 400 years, the industry is now capable of making one complete soccer uniform out of materials recycled from 18 plastic bottles, the report said.
Thirteen million bottles, which could fill 29 soccer fields, were used to supply the material for clothing 10 national teams competing in the World Cup, the report said.
Nike first partnered with Taiwan on using the material four years ago in the South African FIFA World Cup and made more than NT$2 billion (US$67 million) in profit, the report said.
According to FIFA estimates, the Taiwanese textile industry is the primary beneficiary of a US$40 billion market for PET recycled clothing, enjoying a 70 market share, the report said.
The recycled PET material can be used not only in textiles, but also in other industries, the report said.
At the 2011 International Flora Expo hosted in Taipei, Taiwanese designer Arthur Huang (黃謙智) built a 24m tall building, the Eco Ark, using only hexagonal plastic blocks made from 1.5 million plastic bottles.
The design was said to be resistant to typhoons and earthquakes, both of which are natural regular occurrences in the region, the report said.
The report concluded that Taiwan had shown itself to be an exceptional player and at the head of the “green innovative technology” game.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS