A $390 million clean manufacturing project is coming to Rochester, promising new jobs and a major push toward keeping clothes out of landfills.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced that French company Reju will build its first North American textile regeneration hub at Eastman Business Park, turning discarded textiles into reusable materials and bringing about 70 new jobs to the site.
The project will rise on an 18.9-acre vacant lot and marks a major investment in Monroe County’s growing green economy. Reju expects the facility to be operational by the end of 2029.
Turning waste into new textiles
Reju focuses on regenerating polyester textiles and post-consumer plastic waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. At full capacity, the Rochester facility is expected to regenerate the equivalent of 300 million articles each year.
The company plans to build a 145,000-square-foot facility after site remediation. It will use proprietary technology developed with IBM Research to produce Reju Polyester, a regenerated material with a 50 percent lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester…