The recycled polyester saved this American factory. Environmentalists hate him

In the bottle processing plant in Reidsville, in the North Carolina, the drifts of plastic particles, such as the snow sponsors, are piled up in every corner of the machine that cuts the bows into bows. When I ask our tourist guide, a director of the floor, if he cares to breathe it, says he doesn’t. “We do a good job in cleaning it,” he says, adding that the dust bags that are aspirated are sold and the waste water are filtered.

But I am interested. A study of 2023 Of a plastic material recycling system in the United Kingdom discovered that even after the installation of cutting -edge filters, about 6 percent of the plastic that is processed was released in wastewater such as micro and nanoplastic, while the air around the structure was full of quite small microplastics.

Scientists are still stacked what microplastics are for our health, but but A study I discovered that people with IBS tended to have more microplastics, including pet and polyamide (of which nylon is a type), in their intestine. While the animal seems to be one of the most benign of all plastics, at least two studies They found BPA, a chemical that breaks down the hormone, in clothing for children in polyester, and a number of brands has agreed with an agreement with the legislators of California in 2023 compared to Presence of BPA in Athletic Polyester shirts.

In addition, the managers of the water utilities in Reidsville they said That UNIFI and other polyester producers could be potentially sources of 1.4-Dioxano, a probable human carcinogen, in the watershed of Cape Fear, which provides drinking water for Over 1 million people While flowing from Central to Southeast North Carolina. Technically, this is not illegal (especially from UNIFI, together with other industrial sources and different cities, successfully He put pressure against a rule of North Carolina which limits 1.4-Dioxan into wastewater). Since 1.4-Dioxano is a by-product of the resin for manufacturing pets, said the EPA At the end of 2024 That almost any exposure to 1.4-Dioxan constitutes an unreasonable risk to the health of the polyester workers and the surrounding communities. There are ways (very expensive) to treat waste water for 1.4-Dioxan, therefore the way in which the rules that will influence it remains to be seen Unifi, above all because the EPA does not currently seem enthusiastic to make any regulation of the toxic chemical exposure.

British and Boyd both refused to speak in detail of these problems. In person, they mentioned the advice of a Unifi consultant (BPA), said UNIFI follows all the regulations (1.4-Dioxan) or imposed ignorance (microplasty). Boyd follow-up questions remained unanswered. Britle replied to the follow-up questions via e-mail by writing: “We keep active participation in the microfiber consortium, in order to support academic research and the sector on the source and the impact of the fragmentation of the fibers from the tissues in the natural environment”. And “We comply with all local, state and federal regulations for all our sites”.

For supporters, every micro-scandal is proof that there is no ecological polyester. “We cannot do it in a sustainable way in a non -toxic way, it is literally impossible,” says Pici.

But I left the repressing plant asking me if we are leaving the enemy of good American work perfectly. The polyester will continue to be requested and will be made here in a compliant factory using recycled sources or abroad in a sketched factory using fresh petrochemicals. Peci says he doesn’t want to “call that company or those people, because they could be the most beautiful people in the world who do the best they can with what they have”. He described a utopia for me in which non -toxic and natural clothing are made here and then composed and recycled here. It seems gorgeous and impossible.

In February of this year, Unifi announced He was closing his Madison processing plant in the North Carolina. Some of his machinery to his Latin American plants would have sent and would offer Madison employees new job opportunities in Yadkinsville and Reidsville plants, which remain in service.

For now, however.