Unifi, the US-based producer of multifilament polyester and nylon textured yarns has two Starlinger recycling lines in operation at the REPREVE Recycling Center in Yadkinville, North Carolina. The Starlinger recycling lines have been designed to recycle PET flakes from plastic bottles , fiber waste and polyester fabrics. The REPREVE post-consumer product is produced on the recoSTAR PET machine while a recoSTAR universal machine is used for the REPREVE hybrid product.
“Unifi chose Starlinger’s recycling technology because it would allow Unifi to produce the entire family of REPREVE polyester chip products with the desired performance and color needed to grow Unifi’s REPREVE brand,” said Mark McNeill, corporate product development manager for Unifi. “With the opening of the REPREVE Recycling Center, Unifi wanted to set a new benchmark for the production of recycled polyester filament fibers. Starlinger helped us achieve this by custom designing recycling equipment, enhancing the overall color, IV and POY spinning and texturing performance of our REPREVE product. Our goal is to provide our customers with the highest quality and most competitive recycled product in the market today and we are now able to achieve this,” said McNeill.