Watson Gloves have come out with a new range of work gloves that are made from 25% recycled plastic bottles.
Made from “WasteNot” material, the new Watson Stealth Hero gloves use a 15g polyester knit mix that incorporates recycled PET plastic to create the back of the gloves, along with a padded nitrile palm.
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The gloves should be available for purchase this spring, but there are no details yet on USA availability or pricing. There are a couple of Canadian listings, pricing the new gloves at $7 to $10 CAD per pair.
Watson also offers a range of biodegradable disposable gloves that was available on Amazon, so hopefully these will also be sold there as well. I say was available because the current COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a lot gloves and other PPE supplies selling out.
Price: $19.95
Discussion
The new Watson Stealth Hero are a nice looking pair of gloves, and I would love to try them out. However, that’s not really the point in this post; what really intrigues me is the use of recycled plastic bottles. Watson Gloves claim to be the first in the industry to produce gloves using this material.
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They take recycled plastic bottles and process them into chips, which are incorporated into the yarn that is made to produce the gloves. While this isn’t a brand new process, it appears to be the first time it’s been used in the production of work gloves.
Let’s face it, there’s no disputing the fact that we’re creating a lot of plastic waste as a species. For me, it’s a no-brainer to take this waste, repurpose it and incorporate it into a new product. The more products that do this, the more demand there will be for the raw material, which will result in more investment into the entire industry. That’s good news for our planet.
I would love to see major players in the industry set an example and start to introduce recycled plastic into their products. I see no reason for Dewalt or Milwaukee not to start introducing recycled plastic into their products. Even if they started with 1%, and committed to adding more every year, it would generate demand for the raw material and would inject significant investment into the entire industry.
So what do you think -are you prepared to pay a little premium for products like this?
Joe
First ?. I mean , wow , nice gloves. I’d check out a pair when they’re available in the U.S.
Ben V
I keep checking and haven’t found a US supplier yet!
Koko the Talking Ape
Outdoor manufacturers like Patagonia have been using recycled PET bottles in their clothing for years. It’s become commonplace, in fact. PET, or polyethylene terpthalate, is just polyester, the same polyester in clothing, luggage, etc.
But sure, these guys probably are the first to use it in work gloves.
Tom
I’ll gladly buy a pair. As far as the bigger companies go, I believe SBD mentioned in an investor presentation they are trying to have 100% of packaging be recyclable by 2025. Hopefully more companies adopt this mentality, and I’d love to see them commit to doing this with all of their gloves under their various brands. I remember when the old landfill in Hartford was capped. Now all our waste is shipped outside the state. Driving by it every day on the way to work is a stark reminder that we don’t have unlimited space for everything that gets chucked in the garbage.
Frank
all nitrile gloves are biodegradable
Ben V
It looks like the first biodegradable nitrile gloves where invented in 2013:
https://www.globus.co.uk/globus-introduces-worlds-first-biodegradable-nitrile-disposable-glove
I would be surprised if all gloves are now biodegradable. The ones I buy from HD aren’t…
fred
Just a reminder that PPE that uses synthetic (e.g. plastic) fibers are generally not OSHA compliant for work where it might catch fire. While cotton and leather will burn – it generally will not become a molten sticky mass stuck to your skin.
High & Mighty
How green are these gloves when you think of all of the emissions from the employees who drive to work 40 hours a week and the trucks that ship out and deliver materials along with the Amazon vans, parcel services, usps, and the machines that recycle the plastic? There’s significantly more variables to the equation that aren’t environmentally friendly VS a pair of gloves. Environmentally friendly gloves transported by trucks that run on diesel. Am I missing something because that ain’t green. Also think about the potential fire and burn hazard that the plastic imposes. Plastic melted into the skin is a bad situation. I know from experience. People use work gloves for several purposes and handling hot metal is a common purpose. I’m not trying to pee in your kool-aid but the whole green aspect of these gloves isn’t really applicable considering the pollution that occurs just to get them delivered to you. Not to mention the problem of the possibility of them melting or catching fire due to the materials they’re made of.
Scott
Non-recycled gloves also take the same resources to be delivered that you mentioned. The net benefit is positive.
Frank D
Other gloves don’t have transportation of raw materials? development of machinery? staff going to work? distribution of the finished product? shipping and delivery of the finished product?
One would have to go back to a super local pre-industrial time, where everything was local, with many products hand made out of real leather, to avoid all the above.
fred
This does point out the difficulties in doing a comprehensive “cradle to grave” and/or input/output analysis for the socio-economic and environmental impact of a product. We generally ascribe to the notion that recycling any and all human waste is a good thing – but we have often not done it because the perceived/real economics may not warrant it.
In the little microcosm (village) in which I live – we “recycle” – paper, glass, plastics and metal wastes. I’m told by the village that it has become harder to even get rid of the paper stock to a recycler – let alone try to sell it. The glass – ends up in the town landfill – because they have no other outlet for it. The mixed plastic and metal – has a on-again-off-again market – but lately just gets trashed. I think that we need to figure all of this out with better uses for our trash. While making some of it into fleeces or the backs of gloves may not be the end-all-be-all solution – if its economically viable – then why not? Every little bit may help.
Jp
The good: hopefully lessens the amount of plastic created.
The bad: refines plastic into finer micro particles for these products which are likely to be far more harmful far more quickly.
The question: Do we want more poison, or do we want less poison but in a more harmful format?
The source: the above is speculation and conjecture based on myriad of environmental articles each of which claims potential harm but none of which definitively state anything……
Now, where can i buy these again?
Jp
Oh, i forgot the why: i need them to spray herbicide on my lawn, both items are environmentally friendly (tongue in cheek), but at least the lawn meets my HOAs standards (eyeroll).