All T2T Alliance founding partners were in a panel discussion during the conference. Photo shows the participants afterwards (left to right): Marco Lucietti (RE&UP), Dolly Vellanki (Circ), Angie Au-Yeung (Samsara Eco), Stina Billinger (Syre) and Pierre Börjesson (Circulose). Image: AMI


Standing room only: a packed


conference session during the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels. Image: AMI


important because we want to create an early demand signal”, said Dolly Vellanki, Sourcing and Public Affairs Manager at Circ. Stina Billinger, Senior Director Sustain- ability and Public Affairs at Syre, said: “Now we are moving from the framework of ESPR to the delegated acts… it is extremely important that we as an industry keep on pushing the regulators to stay ambitious.” There is a danger of goals being watered down in the details of the acts. “We as an alliance are calling on all the industry to keep on pushing the regulatory system to be ambitious,” she said.


Business opportunity “There is a huge business opportunity for recyclers as long as policymakers are making possible the right conditions to set up plants at scale,” said Marco Lucietti, Head of Global Marketing and Communica- tions at RE&UP. As well as policymakers, he also made a


call to brand owners in fashion: “Brands have to somehow shift their procurement model. Today they are usually using recycled content to develop capsule collections or in niche products.” Vellanki said that the lack of stable


offtake arrangements for recyclers is a major block. There are two ways to remove the block, she said: mandate recycled content targets to push offtake; and create long-term partnerships in the value chain. “What we really need to work on is to


focus on long-term partnerships, deepen those relationships and turn those into stable offtakes. That can only happen when we have policy that supports mandatory recycled content targets,” she said. Panel moderator Mo Patel from the UK Fashion and Textile Association asked: what


22 Textiles Loop • Autumn 2025


“If you go into this thinking you are going to get there without being committed to the whole system, you would absolutely fail”


Patrick Frisk, Reju


can be learnt from the collapse of textile recycler Renewcell in 2024? The company’s Circulose dissolving pulp product has proven itself, responded Pierre Börjesson, Director of Commercial Business Develop- ment at Circulose (the business formed by Altor after acquiring the assets of Renew- cell). “I think this has been a great learning for the industry. [Renewcell showed] It is possible to scale recycled materials.” What was missing for Renewcell, said


Börjesson, was the demand side of the equation which must be developed in parallel with other project requirements.


Price gap The disparity in prices for recycled and virgin materials was a thorny issue raised in


this and other sessions throughout the conference. Angie Au-Yeung, Head of Partnerships Asia & Europe at Samsara Eco, said: “Price is front and centre for recyclers.” Recycled polyester can be 2.5 times the price of virgin material, she said. “That is a massive gap to close. Who in the value chain is willing to pay that 2.5x?” “That gap needs to close somehow to help us scale,” said Vallanki. “This is also why we came together as the T2T Alliance so we can knock on as many doors as possible, especially from the policy angle, so we can create policy mechanisms to address closing this pricing delta.” The Alliance is looking at the potential for measures such as reduced VAT to help close the price gap for recycled material. The cost side of the equation was discussed in another session, when Cyndi Rhoades at Circle-8 highlighted the multiple costs facing recycling companies, from pre-processing, to cutting and preparation for the recycling process. “We need to rethink the whole cost model. We need to think about gate fees and paying for those materials to go into automated


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