How to build an industry: the scaling challenge for circular textiles


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Leaders from the textiles recycling value chain came together in Brussels to discuss the foundations needed for a successful industry. David Eldridge reports


The term “mountain” is typically used as a graphic description of the waste from discarded clothes and other textiles, but the image works just as well in describing the size of the challenge for everyone with a stake in textiles recycling. Many of those stakeholders took part in the two-day conference during the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels in June, where they shared their views on obstacles to the develop- ment of a robust textiles recycling sector. How do you scale up from ideas and


pilot projects to high-volume recycling and full textiles circularity? Leaders from the textiles recycling value chain discussed


regulation, investment, finance, offtake and many other things that need to be put into place. Along with identifying these challenges, there was also a lot of positivity shown during the conference. “I think we need to flip this story on its


head,” said Cyndi Rhoades, Co-founder of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems. “Let’s stop talking about the waste mountains and all the problems, let’s talk about what we could be doing, what the opportunities are. It’s simple: we could be making all of our new textiles out of existing textiles. That’s the investment opportunity. The technolo- gies are there in sorting, in recycling, we


just need to scale them up.” An important session at the conference


brought together the founding members of the T2T Alliance: Circ, Circulose, RE&UP, Syre and Samsara Eco. The audience was given a preview of the Position Paper that the Alliance subsequently made public after the event. This Position Paper outlines many of the issues that were discussed by participants in the other panel discussions and presentations. The Alliance has ambitious aims for


textiles to accelerate circularity, prevent unintended bottlenecks, and ensure closed-loop recycling technologies can scale. It recommends recycled content requirements in the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) Delegated Act, growing from 10% by 2028 to 15% by 2030 and 30% by 2035. The 2028 target “may be a bit of a surprise to some of you but that is very


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