From plastic to pillows - Vendella's green dream

The Vendella team with their Dream 900 pillows. Photo credit Vendella Int.
The Vendella team with their Dream 900 pillows. Photo credit Vendella Int.

In need of somewhere soft to lay your head? Your average plastic water bottle may have more than one purpose after all.

Vendella, a New Zealand homewares company is reusing plastic water bottles to make pillows. Yep, you heard that right.

Each ‘Dream 900' pillow Vendella makes is filled with microfibre made from 22 recycled plastic bottles. The bottles are sterilised, reduced from their raw state and transformed into an ultra-fine microfibre.

For every 8 ‘Dream 900’ pillows sold, Vendella funds the planting of a native seedling via their Dream Green sustainability initiative. It’s going so well they’re planting thousands of trees every year.

Tania McFarlane, Marketing Lead for Vendella, says the Vendella initiative has helped fund the planting of over 3,500 native seedlings over the past year.  

“Our team got together earlier this year and alongside KNZB and planted 50 native trees along the coastline of our hometown.”

The Dream Green initiative

Vendella have partnered with Keep New Zealand Beautiful to create the Dream Green initiative, which covers actions from decreasing product packaging, to decreasing fossil fuel usage in their warehouses, to good old-fashioned beach clean-ups.

 “Over the past year, Keep New Zealand Beautiful have distributed the seedlings nationwide, to the regions most in need of environmental beautification or with a strong educational focus. The majority of recipients are primary schools and regions of members,” said Heather Saunderson, CEO of Keep New Zealand Beautiful.

“Keep New Zealand Beautiful play a significant role in our industry – it’s a partnership we’re proud of,” says Tania.

With the success of the Dream 900 and Dream Green initiative, Vendella are a finalist in the upcoming Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards for the Most Sustainable Business Project.

“Attending the gala and being awarded a finalist is a reflection of our commitment to that partnership, which is now in its second year," says Tania.

"We’re pleased to be able to showcase the work we’ve been doing and celebrate the success of our customers who have helped us achieve these phenomenal results through purchasing the Dream 900 pillow. There are a huge number of Kiwis making a difference in helping to keep New Zealand beautiful, so we’re looking forward to going to the Awards to hear more about other companies’ projects and successes to bring back and share with our team and customers.”