Adidas Builds Football Field Using 1.8 Million Recycled Plastic Bottles

Adidas, the global sportswear and sneaker giant, has just donated a sustainable American football field made out of 1.8 million recycled plastic bottles. Collected from beaches, coastal communities, shorelines and remote islands, the newly built field at Miami’s Edison High School contains an estimated 40,000 pounds of plastic waste. The initiative is a part of Adidas’ corporate sustainability plans as the world wakes up to the severity of the global plastic crisis. 

Sportswear giant Adidas has just opened a new sustainable American football field at Miami’s Edison High School, which is made from 1.8 million recycled plastic bottles recovered from beaches, coastlines and islands, equating to an estimated 40,000 pounds of waste. 

Read: 10 shocking facts about the global plastic crisis

While conventional artificial turf pitches are usually made out of virgin plastics and reground rubber, Adidas used collected bottles that were washed, treated and turned into plastic pellets for traction and cushioning. In addition to building the pitch, the sporting giant has also installed recycling bins across the school campus to help students’ efforts to reduce plastic waste. 

“More than a place for these young athletes to play, it’s a reminder of our collective responsibility to end plastic waste,” said Cameron Collins, the North America director of football at Adidas, in a statement. 

This comes after Adidas announced a range of sustainability plans to mark the start of the new year. Earlier, the company pledged that over 50% of polyester in their products in 2020 will come from recycled sources and plastic waste, and added that this number will be increased to 100% by 2024.

Read: Adidas commits to using recycled polyester & plastic waste

Anti-plastic campaigns by corporations have surged in recent years, as the world begins to take note of the scale of plastic waste. Since 1950, 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced, with roughly 6 million tonnes becoming waste that ends up in landfills, incineration sites, and oceans. Not only is it leading to damaging consequences on our seabed, the production process itself is carbon-intensive, as it involves the use of petroleum. 

Given these sobering facts, major brands such as Coca-Cola and Reebok have launched a number of their own campaigns focused on plastic pollution. While Coca-Cola has begun creating a portion of their bottles out of low-grade recovered ocean waste plastic, a move prompted by global backlash from environmental campaigners, Reebok recently revealed their plans to launch a plant-based vegan shoe that contains no petroleum-based plastics.

All images courtesy of Adidas.