Unifi, Inc. yesterday celebrated the official opening of its REPREVE Bottle Processing Center. The more than $28 million investment will help Unifi achieve vertical integration for its REPREVE recycled product line, expanding production capabilities and supporting vlume growth, said the company.
The REPREVE Bottle Processing Center will add 87 new jobs in the Reidsville, N.C., area, ranging from salaried managers and engineers, to hourly operators, material handlers, electricians, mechanics and more. It includes more than 150,000 square feet of space to be utilized for the new operation, located at the company’s facilities in Reidsville, N.C. The state-of-the-art recycling center is one of the most advanced in the United States, with the capacity to produce annually 75 million pounds of the highest quality, consistent, clean bottle flake.
“This expansion of Unifi’s REPREVE business will bring jobs to our state and furthers North Carolina’s leadership in high-tech manufacturing,” said Governor McCrory. “I am proud that our efforts to improve North Carolina’s business climate, invest in infrastructure and encourage building reuse have helped companies like Unifi grow and succeed.”
Unifi will purchase baled PET bottles from materials recovery facilities across the eastern United States, and bring them to the REPREVE Bottle Processing Center, where undesirable materials will be sorted and filtered using multiple processes to ensure that only the proper, high-quality bottles are kept for use. Unifi will then remove labels, debris and caps from the remaining PET bottles. These bottles will be chopped into flake, washed, dried and bagged for use in the production of REPREVE, or sold to other companies for a variety of consumer packaging applications, such as thermoformed food-grade packaging such as cups and takeout containers, as well as non-food applications such as strapping and film.
“The vertical integration of our REPREVE manufacturing process highlights an important next step in Unifi’s continued path toward sustainability and producing high-quality, value-added products,” said Tom Caudle, president of Unifi. “The REPREVE Bottle Processing Center uses custom-designed, cutting-edge technology and provides increased flexibility that will allow us to better serve our customers, as well as create a new channel of revenue. We are also proud to support manufacturing in North Carolina and to add new jobs in our communities.”
Rockingham County provided a $25,000 matching grant that allowed the REPREVE Bottle Processing Center expansion to qualify for a Building Reuse Grant of $500,000 from the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority under the Rural Economic Development Division at the North Carolina Department of Commerce. To support the expansion of the facility, a Community Development Block Grant in the amount of $861,000 from the North Carolina Department of Commerce was awarded to the city of Reidsville for a larger sewer line to replace aged infrastructure.
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