#Recycling / Circular Economy

2024-06-06

Circle Economy and partners launch new textile 5R solutions project SOLSTICE

Launched on 28 May, 2024, the SOLSTICE project supports sustainable growth in the textile sector by raising customer awareness, enhancing recycling with new sorting methods, ensuring feedstock traceability using the Digital Product Passport, and providing data and guidelines to decision-makers. ?

Led by Axel’One, an open innovation platform in chemistry-environment in France, the SOLSTICE consortium is EU-wide and covering the whole value chain in textiles and plastics. The project spans 42 months, aiming at advancing climate-neutral and circular economy practices within the textile industry.

The SOLSTICE project is based on a holistic approach that encompasses all stages of waste prevention, guided by a 5R strategy: Reject/Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Reuse and Recycle. These solutions will be tested and refined in demonstrations conducted in 4 European cities and regions: Grenoble (France), Berlin (Germany), Prato (Italy), and Catalonia (Spain).

Partnering with businesses and clusters across the textile value chain are central to the SOLSTICE’s mission. Through these collaborations, SOLSTICE seeks to unlock concrete business opportunities to accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions that align with the circular economy.

As part of a consortium of 24 partners working on the project, Circle Economy will uncover the current state of circularity in textiles ecosystem as well as identify and inform the areas of immediate action, the choice of circular interventions and the design of replicable blueprints.

More information on the SOLSTICE project on its website: www.solstice-project.eu

Circulose welcomes Sara Diez Jauregui and Kalyan Madabhushi to its Board of Directors

Circulose is proud to announce the appointment of Sara Diez Jauregui and Kalyan Madabhushi to further strengthen its Board of Directors, following the recent appointment of Chair Helena Helmersson. These additions bring world-class expertise across the value chain: Sara offers extensive experience with leading fashion and apparel brands, while Kalyan brings a notable career at Aditya Birla Group, a global leader in cellulosic fiber production.

Successful pilot: biodegradable plastic produced from textile waste

The 'Design for Transformation' (D4T) pilot project, led by Circle Economy and the Biomimicry Institute, has developed an innovative technology to produce bioplastics and gaseous products from textile waste. This set of technologies aims to enable companies to generate additional revenue streams from waste, whilst diverting it from landfills or incineration.

From Montréal to Morocco: Circle Economy Foundation’s impact was global in 2023

Circle Economy Foundation is excited to announce the launch of the Impact Report 2023. Following a year of firsts for the organisation, they turned their attention inward to take stock of their impact across the three levers of their Theory of Change: Analyse, Act and Scale. Read on to see some of the highlights from 2023.

Circle Economy Foundation partners with Circulair West

Circle Economy Foundation and Circulair West announced that the organisations have entered into a strategic partnership to develop and pilot the Circulair West Academy. This pilot project aims to introduce the tools of the Foundation’s Circular Starter Kit to the Circulair West network of founders, leaders and friends. This consists of a documentary about circularity and a gamified e-learning platform.

matterr at K – Where innovation meets industry

At this year’s K trade fair, matterr took the stage to showcase its technology and demonstrate how it drives circular polyester at an industrial scale. Insightful conversations, strong new connections, and great energy — all together reminds how powerful it is when innovation meets industry. The momentum from Düsseldorf shows: circular transformation is no longer a vision — it’s happening.

Nike unites innovation, design and product teams to accelerate athlete-centered innovation

Nike, Jordan Brand and Converse are joining forces under a new, athlete-focused creation structure aimed at accelerating innovation and driving growth across NIKE, Inc. The new setup unites the Innovation, Design and Product teams from all three brands into a single “creation engine” that will enable greater sharing of insights, technology and manufacturing methods throughout the innovation process. This integration is part of Nike’s new Sport Offense strategy and is designed to enhance the creation of products that help athletes perform at their best.

DORNIER celebrates its anniversary at ITMA Asia + CITME

To mark its 75th anniversary, machine and plant manufacturer Lindauer DORNIER will be presenting the latest developments in its rapier and air-jet weaving machines at ITMA Asia + CITME in Singapore (Hall 2, Stand B401) from 28 to 31 October 2025. The focus will be on energy-efficient weaving technologies, new IoT solutions for networked textile production and systems for the series production of modern fibre composite components.

BCI warns against ‘dangerous dilution’ of EU corporate directives

The approval of the European Commission’s Omnibus I proposal by the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs, accepting controversial changes to key sustainability directives is of great concern. These changes, namely to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), threaten to significantly dilute business reporting and due diligence obligations.

Pioneering open-source framework shows how early innovation drives a just and net-zero fashion future

The non-profit H&M Foundation, in collaboration with Accenture, has unveiled From Signals to Systems Change, an insight report calling on the fashion industry to rethink its role in transformation. At its core is the Reimagined System Map, a pioneering open-source framework that visualises how early-stage innovation could drive a just and net-zero textile future.