Clothing Recycling Is Taking a Giant Leap Forward

…To produce the material, which is also called Circulose, machines the size of a house shred old clothes in a former paper factory. The shreds are further broken down and bleached using chlorine and ozone. A lye solution dissolves zippers and buttons, and the plastic content of the raw material is removed. Other machines then press and dry the pulp into mats, which can be spun into fibers for the production of new textiles, and voila! A new jacket, blouse or pair of pants can be produced.

Some 60,000 tons of textile pulp can be produced in Sundsvall every year, enough for around 150 million new t-shirts. According to Circulose, no other company produces such material at scale from 100 percent textile waste using a closed-loop, chemical recycling process…

Source: Clothing Recycling Is Taking a Giant Leap Forward

The Oldest Beer Receipt (Circa 2050 BC) | Open Culture

Above, we have the Alulu Beer Receipt. Written in cuneiform on an old clay tablet, the 4,000-year-old receipt documents a transaction. A brewer, named Alulu, delivered “the best” beer to a recipient named Ur-Amma, who apparently also served as the scribe. The Mesopotamians drank beer daily. And while they considered it a staple of everyday life, they also regarded it as a divine gift—something that contributed to human happiness and well-being.

In our archive, you can find the recipe for Sumerian beer and also watch it get made. That’s all free. No receipts will be issued.

Source: The Oldest Beer Receipt (Circa 2050 BC) | Open Culture

Songs I like (112) | beetleypete

In 1968, I heard a song on the radio that was really unusual. I listened carefully at the end and heard that it was called ‘On the road again’, and was by Canned Heat.

The following day I bought the single in a record shop, later buying the album. To my teenage ears it sounded almost like Blues had met Cajun, and it was a hard genre to categorise. The lead singer’s voice was almost plaintive, and I found the sound of it quite hypnotic.

That singer was Alan Wilson, known as ‘Blind Owl’ because of his poor eyesight. He suffered from depression and died in 1970 at the age of 27 from an overdose of barbituates that was classified as accidental. A new singer joined the group, and they continued to record and tour with different lineups until 2014. But after Wison died, I never bought any of their later records.

Source: Songs I like (112) | beetleypete