Universal Textile Technologies (UTT) today announced a new initiative to include bottles collected from Grand Teton National Park into its manufacturing process. Universal Textile converts the plastic bottles into a non-woven fleece material used to manufacture high-performance environmentally friendly backing for carpet and synthetic turf products. Now termed the PET Park Project, UTT is working in partnership with The Grand Teton National Park, Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling, CPE Inc., and the United Soybean Board (USB).

In the Grand Teton Park millions of annual visitors are educated on the positive aspects of recycling, including plastic bottles. This new partnership called the PET Park Project promotes the reuse of discarded plastic bottles, significantly reduces the amount of bottles that go to the landfill, and helps the park meet their recycling goals, according to UTT.

Universal Textile then incorporates the use of recycled bottles to manufacture BioCel and EnviroCel environmentally friendly performance based polyurethane backing systems for carpet and synthetic turf. Both BioCel and EnviroCel utilize recycled plastic bottles combined with naturally renewable soybean-based polyols derived from domestically grown soybeans.

Universal Textile is a charter member of the Biobased Products Coalition, the Carpet and Rug Institute, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), and is NSF 140 Certified.

“Grand Teton National Park has proven its commitment to promoting beneficial environmental stewardship practices, and the PET Park Project is an excellent example of how private companies can work with the National Park Service to find innovative recycling solutions that benefit all of us,” Margaret Wilson, Grand Teton National Park’s Planner & Sustainability Coordinator.

Universal Textile has a similar partnership in place with Yellowstone National Park.

“On average, 2 bottles out of 10 are recycled in America today, and our objective is to increase this number. We hope the PET Park Project will increase awareness of the many opportunities for Americans to participate,” said Doug Giles, director of marketing for Universal Textile Technologies. “We are excited to be a part of this project and look forward to continuing our partnership with the National Park Service.”