The 79th annual Wyndham Championship just got greener, thanks to a new partnership with Unifi, a leading textiles manufacturer, which makes its Repreve performance fibre from recycled materials, including plastic bottles.

The company has signed a multi-year agreement to become an official recycling partner of the PGA Tour event contested annually at Greensboro’s Sedgefield Country Club. It is estimated that tens of thousands of plastic bottles will be recycled through this partnership.

“We are proud to partner with the Wyndham Championship to help continue keeping plastic bottles out of the landfill and help to further conserve natural resources in the making of Repreve recycled fibres,” said Unifi CEO Kevin Hall. “What if every one of the 80,000 – 100,000 people who typically attend the Wyndham Championship recycled their water bottle instead of throwing it away? The positive impact that would have on our local environment would be terrific.”

New partnership

“This new partnership with Unifi is fantastic news for the Wyndham Championship and our environment,” commented Mark Brazil, Wyndham Championship tournament director. “Environmental sustainability is a key part of our Wyndham Championship Fore! Good initiative, a platform that also focuses on charitable giving and community development.”

“We are eager to adopt innovative sustainable practices and recycling the plastic bottles used during our PGA Tour event to turn them into Repreve performance fibre, and that is about as innovative as it gets. Partnering with Unifi in this manner is a significant enhancement of our existing recycling efforts.”

This year’s tournament will be held from 13-19 August 2018, where tournament patrons will be encouraged to look for and use the Repreve recycling receptacles that will be positioned around the course and in the Repreve Recycle Zone. Repreve’s Mobile Tour will be on-site the entire week of the tournament. Through this interactive experience, Wyndham Championship patrons will learn how the bottles they choose to recycle are transformed into sustainable performance fibres. They will also have the opportunity to see and touch products made with Repreve from global brands they know and love.

Inspiring people to recycle

“The recycling rate for plastic bottles in the US is low – about 28%,” said Kevin Hall. “Through this partnership, we’re able to divert thousands of bottles from the landfill and show tournament patrons some of the innovative things we can do with them. Our goal is to inspire people to recycle more, buy recycled and join in our efforts to help protect our natural resources. We are excited to partner with the Wyndham Championship to help educate golf fans and to work together to create a better tomorrow.”

Mr Hall noted that the amount of Repreve fibre that could be made from 100,000 recycled water bottles could produce 25,000 hats, 33,000 pairs of jeans or 20,000 pairs of casual pants.

Unifi is a textile solutions provider and one of the leading innovators in manufacturing synthetic and recycled performance fibres. Through Repreve, one of Unifi’s proprietary technologies, Unifi has transformed more than 10 billion plastic bottles into recycled fibre for new clothing, shoes, home goods and other consumer products.

www.unifi.com