As a result of strong customer interest in its Circulose 100% recycled fibre, the board of directors of Renewcell has decided to initiate an expansion of the company’s first plant in Ortviken, Sundsvall,  Sweden – from 60,000 to 120,000 metric tons of total annual capacity – ahead of plan.

The decision does not affect the commissioning planned for mid-2022 of an initial 60,000 metric tons.

The baseline fashion industry demand for recycled man-made cellulosic fibres of the kind made from Circulose will amount to around six million metric tons annually by 2030

The board also decided in February to review the company’s operational and financial goals, evaluating the opportunity to bring forward the goal of reaching 360,000 metric tons of annual capacity to 2025, from 2030 as was originally planned. BNP Paribas and Carnegie have been retained by the company to explore rasing the financing to reach these goals.

The large and rapidly growing impact of virgin textile fibre production and fashion waste has become a focus for consumers, NGOs, regulators, fashion brands, manufacturers and ESG investors worldwide. New market research developed by Renewcell forecasts that the baseline fashion industry demand for recycled man-made cellulosic fibres of the kind made from Circulose will amount to around six million metric tons annually by 2030.

With just 0.7 million metric tons of annual supply capacity, including the 360,000 metric tons from Renewcell, forecasted to come online by then, the industry will need to rely on speeding up the scaling of products like Circulose to close the gap.

“The global fashion industry is committed to going circular and we are determined to contribute as much and as fast as we can to attain this crucial goal,” says Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell. “With demand signals from fibre and fashion brand partners soaring since the time of our IPO, we need to push ahead in Sundsvall and also raise the long term ambition.”

www.renewcell.com