NEW YORK, June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten years. Ten days. Ten Homes. Ten-thousand jeans. Cotton Incorporated's Blue Jeans Go Green™ program met its goal of collecting 10,000 denim apparel items; enough to provide insulation for the ten homes that were built in the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Build-A-Thon in May. Pitching in for the build was AnnaSophia Robb, star of the CW series The Carrie Diaries, who also presented homeowner Karen Walter with the key to her new home on America Street.
AnnaSophia Robb joined more than 600 AmeriCorp and other volunteers for the build, which took place between May 20th and May 30th. Consumers around the country did their part, as well, dropping off a total of ten thousand denim items in Blue Jeans Go Green™ collection bins at Madewell stores, and by mailing their unwanted denim directly to the program. The program converts these unwanted denim items into UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation, through manufacturing partner Bonded Logic, Inc. and provides it to communities in need.
According to data from Field to Market, U.S. cotton growers have made significant environmental gains over the past 40 years that include reductions in pesticide applications, irrigation water applications, and land use. The Blue Jeans Go Green™ program brings the environmental gains cotton growers have made in the field full-circle by diverting textiles from landfills and helping to rebuild communities.
Since 2006, the Cotton Incorporated Blue Jeans Go Green™ program has helped rebuild communities by providing hundreds of thousands of square feet of UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation to Habitat for Humanity affiliates around the country. Over that time span the program has diverted more than one million pieces of denim --- roughly 600 tons --- from landfills, and created approximately two million square feet of insulation for communities in need.
"The average consumer owns seven pairs of jeans," says Andrea Samber, co-director of Strategic Alliances at Cotton Incorporated. "Giving just one of them to the recycling drive can make a big difference in a family's life." Information on where to recycle denim through Blue Jeans Go Green™ can be found at www.bluejeansgogreen.org.
About Cotton Incorporated
Cotton Incorporated, funded by U.S. cotton producers and importers of cotton and cotton textile products, conducts worldwide research and promotion activities to increase the demand for and profitability of cotton.
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