Charity retail is being rewired into industrial feedstock—linking local donation flows to circular polyester production.
Rochester, long defined by industrial reinvention, is being positioned as a proving ground for textile circularity. Reju, backed by Technip Energies, and Goodwill of the Finger Lakes convened local, state and federal leaders to showcase a partnership that connects donation-driven reuse with industrial-scale recycling—turning what cannot be resold into raw material for new textiles.
From thrift racks to chemical feedstock
Reju has chosen Eastman Business Park for its first US Regeneration Hub, designed to take polyester-rich post-consumer textiles headed for disposal and convert them into rBHET, a building block that can be repolymerised into new polyester for textile applications. The project remains subject to a final investment decision by Technip Energies’ board. Goodwill, meanwhile, provides the “front end”: collection, sorting, reuse and diversion of non-wearables.
A larger supply channel is also taking shape. An 11-Goodwill “Northeast Goodwill Circularity Hub” led by Goodwill Finger Lakes has signed an agreement to supply polyester-rich material into the planned facility, building on a 2024 circularity initiative with WM.
Why this matters
Textiles are one of America’s fastest-growing and least understood waste streams. The business problem is feedstock: scaling recycling requires steady volumes, consistent sorting, and trusted collection networks—assets Goodwill already has. The political appeal is equally clear: “green” investment framed as jobs and regional revitalisation.
What happens next
If Rochester’s model works, it offers a template: community reuse maximised first, industrial regeneration used for the remainder—creating a pipeline that could make circular polyester less of a pilot and more of an industry.
