As momentum for the fibre-to-fibre recycling of waste textiles gathers pace, Paris-based Reju has announced a number of new initiatives.

Owned by world-leading engineering and technology company Technip Energies, Reju is a materials regeneration company focused on creating solutions for recycling polyester textiles and PET waste, using propriety technology to establish a circular ecosystem for textiles recycling.

The company has just announced a collaboration with Nouvelles Fibres Textiles (NFT), the French company specialising in the recovery of end-of-life textiles for the supply of secondary raw materials for Reju Polyester.

Reju and NFT will collaborate to expand the collection and processing infrastructure for apparel and textile wastes from post-consumer and post-industrial sources. The collaboration will allow for an open supply chain and guarantee 100% traceability of recycled materials.

Reju Polyester is expected to have a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester and can be regenerated infinitely. The company’s first demonstration plant – Regeneration Hub Zero – is now operational in Frankfurt, Germany, and will come on line to enable the production of Reju PET in 2025.

NFT and its partners opened a semi-industrial site and research centere for textile recycling in November 2023. The pilot line is the first to combine Pellenc ST’s automated sorting technologies with Andritz tearing lines to process high volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer textile waste, eliminate hard points and turn them into industrial grade fibre and raw material feedstock for new recycling technologies. NFT also provides secondary raw materials to various industries including nonwovens, insulation, composites, plastics and other textiles.

“Reju and Nouvelles Fibres Textiles are using innovation and collaboration to accelerate the transition to a circular textile ecosystem,” said Reju CEO Patrik Frisk. “This demonstrates our collective commitment to addressing the problem of textile waste and developing new ways to use the resources we have within local supply chains. With the collection of textile waste mandatory in the European Union starting in 2025, it is imperative we have scalable systems and partnerships to process what is collected and keep it from landfills or incineration.”

US project

Across the Atlantic, Reju has also announced a multi-year initiative with Goodwill, the largest workforce development network and secondhand retailer in North America comprised of 154 local nonprofits, and WM, North America’s leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions.

The companies will develop a collaborative model for regional textile collection, sorting, reuse and recycling to divert more non-wearable textile materials from the waste stream. They will work together on pilots to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale. A portion of the remaining textiles not suitable for resale are expected to be provided to Reju as feedstock to potentially be recycled and regenerated into new materials when Reju builds a US facility.

The project builds on research conducted by Goodwill funded by the Walmart Foundation to assess the fibre composition of unsold textiles and develop the skills and systems to transform unwearable textiles into recycling feedstock.

“To tackle the challenges posed by discarded textiles, we need radical collaboration and cooperation, and through our potential project with Goodwill and WM, we are building the ecosystem to achieve textile circularity,” said Reju’s Frisk,. “Reuse is, and will continue to be, the highest value and is essential to the circular economic model for the benefit of all. Yet, among the products that are not reused, less than 1% are recycled globally today. A textile-to-textile circular ecosystem can only be optimised when more textiles are diverted from the waste stream and into the recovery cycle. Goodwill and WM are looking to play a critical role in recovery through the collection and sorting of textiles in North America.”

www.reju.com