Real Betis Unveils Sustainable Jersey Made from Algae and Recycled Plastic - Here's Why

El club Real Betis de La Liga española lanzó el jueves un nuevo kit fabricado con una alga invasora para crear conciencia sobre una crisis ecológica en la costa andaluza. La camiseta está hecha con plástico reciclado del océano, así como con un tejido textil creado a partir de la alga marrón Rugulopteryx okamurae. Esta alga se ha propagado rápidamente en el Mediterráneo, afectando la biodiversidad, la pesca y el turismo, además de resultar costosa de remover. Betis, que presentó la camiseta en Tarifa, una ciudad especialmente afectada por el problema, la usará el 16 de febrero contra el Real Sociedad en La Liga.

"The presence of invasive algae on our coasts is destroying our ecosystem," wrote Betis in a post on social media.

"To confront them, the first kit made with fibres created from these algae was born."

Marine biologist Candela Sanchez Atienzar told AFP the algae, native to the North Pacific, most likely arrived in Spanish waters in 2015 "through the ballast waters of merchant ships".

"When it arrived it started to spread out of control, there's no invasion in the history of science described on this scale," she said.

Rafael Muela Pastor, the director of Betis' social foundation, said it was a good opportunity to raise awareness of the problem.

"News was reaching us that the invasive Asian algae was causing many problems in all sectors in the area," he told AFP.

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"We wanted to take advantage of this situation in some way to draw attention to the importance of caring for our oceans and seas."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)