Alpek Polyester in Fayetteville will cease its operations in North Carolina on July 31, according to a press release. A notice about the layoffs said 180 jobs will be lost because of these closures.
Alpek took over the site in 2001 and used it to manufacture PET resin. 1,4-Dioxane is a byproduct of the production of PET. It’s a federally unregulated solvent that the EPA considers a likely carcinogen, and Alpek discharges a whole lot of it into the Cape Fear River.
Clean Cape Fear co-founder Emily Donovan said it's a major pollutant in the Cape Fear River. "The levels are some of the worst in the United States.”
She says it’s unfair to leave the cleanup of this contamination to utilities.
"It should not be the burden of the public water treatment facility to filter out these contaminants. They don't belong in the river to begin with.”
NCDEQ's permit for Alpek does not set any wastewater limits for 1,4-Dioxane, but does require the solvent to be monitored monthly. That has not changed since DEQ issued the permit in 2018. The company has also violated its maximum discharge limits repeatedly in 2025, and was issued a civil penalty of $1,121.04.
According to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, 37% of the solvent in its raw, untreated river water could be attributed to Alpek.
Donovan says the utility is doing the best it can to remove the chemical, but it should be the polluter's job to keep contaminants out, not the utility’s to filter them out downriver.
