Discarded plastic bags are a growing menace in oceans and waterways; a whale died recently in Thailand after eating 17 pounds of plastic bags. The Church of England is trying to make a difference with plastic recycling.
Butler and Butler, operated by a London vicar, has launched a range of eco-friendly cassocks manufactured with a polyester created from reclaimed bottles. The Rev. Simon Butler reports a “huge swell of interest” in the cassocks inspired by the BBC TV series Blue Planet.
A fabric mill in India makes the fabric for the £189 cassock, which Butler says is closer to a “softer wool feel” than traditional polyester.
“The company has been going for ten years and we have a strong customer base who really like what we do with the fair trade and the organic,” Butler told The Telegraph. “So the move into the recycled plastics just seemed like a really good fit. Our existing customer base have been really pleased and response has been really good, I think because it’s such a live topic and a live issue.”
John Martin
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
