Polyester Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Study

Depending on the technology, key hotspots include the production of virgin fossil-based (petrochemical) inputs, waste collection and sorting (for recycled polyester only), energy use, and transport. 

• For virgin polyester: The production of the main petrochemicals used to make virgin polyester (particularly monoethylene glycol (MEG), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT)) is the dominant contributor to most impact categories. The energy sources used for electricity and heat and their associated emissions are another major contributor. 

• For thermomechanical recycling: Electricity use and feedstock collection, especially when waste materials must travel long distances to processing facilities, are two major hotspots for climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and abiotic depletion of fossil fuels. 

• For chemical recycling: The two largest environmental hotspots were found to be energy consumption for electricity and heat, based on the sources and their associated emissions, and the use of input chemicals used in the recycling process, including solvents like methanol.

This includes unsafe working conditions, labor rights violations, and gender-based violence. Impacts also include violence by law enforcement against local communities in efforts to secure access to oil and gas extraction sites around the world, as well as severe health impacts linked to accidental spills and pollution. 

For recycling, both PET plastic bottles and textile-to-textile supply chains are often informal and poorly regulated, which can lead to human rights impacts. However, the textile-to-textile recycling supply chain in particular creates the potential for meaningful solutions to help tackle the world’s textile waste crisis. 

—The LCA study identifies virgin fossil-based inputs as the largest contributor to environmental impact in virgin PET production. This underscores that reducing – and ultimately eliminating- reliance on virgin fossil-based inputs is a critical lever for driving impact reduction, as laid out in Textile Exchange’s Principles of Preferred Production Systems. 

Complementary measures, such as increasing renewable energy use and sourcing waste locally to minimize transport emissions, play an important role in further reducing impacts—particularly within recycled systems.

The findings reinforce the key actions brands and retailers should take to support recycling technologies, including investing in post-consumer collection, sorting technologies, and enabling infrastructure. 

For human rights, the study highlights the importance of looking beyond labor rights to consider the full spectrum of human rights when assessing impacts on people. Companies should work toward full traceability of their polyester supply chains by engaging with supply chain actors and progressively mapping upstream to the origin.