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In the Reidsville bottle processing plant, in North Carolina, plastic particle drifts, such as snow benches, are stacked in each corner of the machine that cuts the bottles into flakes. When I ask our guide, a soil director, if he fears to breathe it, he says he does not. “We do a good job to clean it,” he said, adding that the dust bags that are sucked are sold and the wastewater is filtered.
But I am concerned. A 2023 study A recycling plant of British plastics found that even after the installation of advanced filters, around 6% of the transformed plastic was released in wastewater in the form of micro and nanoplastic, while the air around the establishment was full of microplastics small enough to be dangerous for human health.
Scientists always perplete what microplastics do to our health, but a study found that people with SCI tended to have more microplastics, including pets and polyamide (of which nylon is a type), in their intestine. While Pet seems to be one of the most benign of all plastics, at least two studies found the BPA, a chemical disturbing the hormone, in polyester baby clothes, and a certain number of brands have agreed with regulations with California legislators in 2023 on the Presence of BPA in polyester sports shirts.
In addition, public water service managers in Reidsville allege that Unifi and other polyester manufacturers could potentially be 1.4-Dioxane sources, a probable human carcinogen, in the FEAR Cape Basin, which provides drinking water for More than a million people Because it flows from the center south-east of the North Carolina. Technically, it is not illegal (especially from Unifi, as well as other industrial sources and several cities, successfully Press a Rule of North Carolina limiting the 1.4-Dioxane in wastewater). Since the 1.4-Dioxane is a by-product of the manufacture of pet resin, the EPA declared Late 2024 That almost any exposure to the 1.4-Dioxane is an unreasonable risk for the health of polyester workers and surrounding communities. There are means (very expensive) to treat does not currently seem passionate Make any regulation of toxic chemical exposure.
Ingle and Boyd both refused to speak in detail about these questions. In person, they cited the advice of the Unifi lawyer (BPA), said that UNIFI followed all the regulations (1.4-Dioxane), or pleaded ignorance (microplastics). The follow -up questions in Boyd remained unanswered. Ingle answered questions of monitoring by e-mail by writing: “We maintain active participation in the microfiber consortium, in order to support academic research and industry on the source and the impact of the fragmentation of textile fibers in the natural environment.” And “we comply with all local, state and federal regulations for all our sites”.
For defenders, each micro-scandal is proof that there is no environmentally friendly polyester. “We cannot do this in a non -toxic way, it is literally impossible,” explains Pecci.
But I left the factory resumed asking me if we let perfect be the enemy of good American jobs. The polyester will continue to be in demand, and it will either be manufactured here in a compliant factory using recycled sources, or abroad in a summary factory using fresh petrors. Pecci says that she does not want to “call this business or these people, because it is the most beautiful people in the world who do their best with what they have”. She described for me a utopia in which non -toxic and natural clothes are all made here and then compost and recycled here. It seems beautiful and impossible.
In February of this year, Unifi announcement He closed his Madison processing plant in North Carolina. He would send part of his machines to his factories in Latin America and would offer Madison employees new job opportunities in Yadkinsville and Reidsville factories, which remain in service.
For the moment, anyway.
