Unifi recycled 38 billion plastic bottles in 2023. | Don Pablo/Shutterstock
Unifi’s recycled-content fiber line made up 30% of the company’s revenue in 2023, and the textile manufacturer is aiming for 50% in 2025.
The Greensboro, North Carolina-headquartered company released its 2023 sustainability report Wednesday and announced that it’s setting a new sustainability target of recycling the equivalent of 1.5 billion T-shirts worth of textile and yarn by 2030.
Regarding its 2025 targets of recycling 50 billion plastic bottles and having the REPREVE fiber line comprise over 50% of 2025’s revenue, the company noted it was on track, with 38 billion plastic bottles recycled and the REPREVE fiber comprising 30% of 2023’s revenue.
REPREVE made up 36% of revenue in fiscal 2022 and 37% in fiscal 2021.
Unifi recycles commercial pre-consumer textile material and its internal yarn into products such as REPREVE polyester, REPREVE powered by Textile Takeback and REPREVE nylon.
“UNIFI’s Textile Takeback program utilizes fabric production waste, transforming it into raw materials,” the report noted. “We have long adopted a ‘hate wasting’ mentality for our own yarn processes and will now help scale this philosophy for the industry at large.”