Reju and Circle-8 Join Forces for Large-Scale Textile Recycling in the UK

Reju and Circle-8 Partner for Textile Recycling in the UK

In a groundbreaking move, Reju™, a progressive textile-to-textile regeneration company, has teamed up with Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems to advance the textile recycling initiatives in the United Kingdom. This collaboration aims to establish a comprehensive circular textile ecosystem, ensuring that post-consumer textiles are efficiently recycled.

Circle-8 will provide raw materials sourced from processed post-consumer textile waste through its state-of-the-art Automated Textile Sorting and Preprocessing (ATSP) facility. This initiative paves the way for a network of industrial-scale facilities that will significantly improve the recycling process. Reju plans to utilize these raw materials to create Reju Polyester™, a regenerated polyester that boasts a 50% smaller carbon footprint than virgin polyester, while also being infinitely recyclable.

Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, "Working with the ever-evolving ecosystem of Circle-8 and ATSP allows us to enhance the efficiency of the textile recycling process, simplifying and optimizing it to produce high-quality products that meet Reju's rigorous standards for polyester. As awareness of the significance of preventing textiles from ending up in landfills grows among consumers and apparel manufacturers, the need for automated and optimized facilities at the points of textile waste is paramount."

The collaboration between Reju and Circle-8 is set to bolster the UK's infrastructure for material processing and establish partnerships that will facilitate a completely transparent and viable fiber-to-fiber ecosystem. This agreement is expected to drive the transition of brands and retailers in the UK towards a circular textile industry. With Circle-8 supplying pre-sorted and pre-processed raw materials at scale for Reju's patented regeneration technology, this collaboration ensures efficiency, accuracy, and scalability to address the over 700,000 tons of non-reusable textile waste generated in the UK annually.

Cyndi Rhoades, co-founder and CEO of Circle-8, affirmed the shared commitment of both companies towards driving indefinite textile recycling in the UK and beyond. "This collaboration underscores the critical role of cooperation and innovation in transforming textile waste into valuable resources. As global regulatory bodies tighten regulations, Reju and Circle-8 are dedicated to providing scalable solutions that not only meet regulatory demands but also contribute to a more sustainable future."

About Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems
Circle-8 is redefining the future of materials by focusing on circulation rather than extraction. It is forging a new circular textile industry by developing the essential ecosystem and infrastructure needed to promote textile recycling. The company specializes in designing, constructing, and launching a network of automated textile sorting and preprocessing facilities that convert non-reusable textiles into raw materials for fiber-to-fiber recycling processes. The ultimate goal is to implement industrial-scale polymer recycling plants for textiles in the UK, positively impacting the approximately 700,000 tons of non-reusable textiles that would otherwise end up in landfills or incineration each year.

About Reju
Reju focuses on material regeneration and seeks to create innovative solutions for recycling polyester textiles and PET waste. Owned by Technip Energies and leveraging technology rooted in IBM research, Reju is on a mission to establish a global circular textile recycling ecosystem to tackle the challenge of PET plastics in textiles. For more information, visit Reju’s website.