Here's the scoop on the Recycling process:       Close Window 

At Unifi (the fiber producer), no fiber waste ever goes into a landfill! At the low end of fiber recovery, waste would be transformed into stuffed animal stuffing or casket linings.

Presently, post industrial fiber waste is ground up and melted into a plastic chip from which new fibers are extruded and then spun into yarns. The Unifi Repreve yarn is 100% recycled and meets the FTC guidlines (below). In making the Recycled Polartec®, other non-recycled yarns are used for 15% of the fabric structure so the final Polartec product is 85% Recycled.

The considerable environmental benefits to Recycled fiber from this process, are derived from the processes which are eliminated as compared to virgin polyester produced from Crude Oil:

Process Comparison

Virgin Polyester

Repreve Polyester

Crude Oil Well Head

Process Eliminated

Crude Oil Refinery

Process Eliminated

Naptha

Process Eliminated

Xylenes

Process Eliminated

Parxylene

Process Eliminated

TA* & MEG*

Process Eliminated

Polymerization

Repreve Chip Production

Extrusion

Extrusion

Texturing

Texturing

For every 1 lb. Of Repreve yarn, 61,000 BTU's are conserved; the equivalent of .5 gallons of gasoline.

* TA is Terephthalic Acid

** MEG is Mono Ethylene Glycol (Can be made from Oil or Natural Gas)

*** British Thermal Units


FTC Guideline for "Recycled"

Recycled products are made from products that have been melted down or ground up and made into new products. Or they may have been made from materials that are used, reconditioned or remanufactured. If a product is labeled recycled because it contains used, reconditioned or remanufactured parts, the label also must say the product is "used," "reconditioned" or "remanufactured" unless that fact is obvious to the buyer.

If a label says "recycled," it must tell the percentage of recycled content, unless it's 100 percent.