Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems has completed a pivotal acquisition of a single line sorter from Danish innovation company NewRetex, part funded by the Automatic-Sorting for Circularity and Textiles (ACT UK) project, supported by Innovate UK.
ACT UK provided support and industry collaboration to design a 25,000 tonne per annum Automated Textile Sorting & Pre-processing plant (ATSP), which, as the largest grant recipient from the project, Circle-8 is driving forward beyond the project.
The UK generates an estimated 700,000+ tonnes of non-reusable textiles every year. Currently, recycling converts less than one percent of these into new textile materials. There is a huge opportunity for the circular economy in the UK to convert what’s considered textiles waste into feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recycling, to become new polyester, cotton, wool and man-made cellulosic fibres.
Circle-8 is building a network of ATSPs designed to turn non-reusable textiles into feedstock for high volume textile recyclers, along with establishing key partnerships to drive the shift to fibre-to-fibre recycling. The NewRetex single line sorter will be the first standalone component contributing to the 25,000 tonne per year capacity, setting the standard for future developments.
“We are extremely impressed by the approach NewRetex has taken with the development of this automated textiles sorting line. It will enable a significant advance in the transition from manual to automated sorting of non-reusable textiles, laying the groundwork to support the scale up of fibre-to-fibre recycling plants for textiles and other recycling processes in the UK.”
Cyndi Rhoades, Co-founder and CEO of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems
The NewRetex sorting line will enable high-capacity sorting and accurate classification of textiles according to:
- o Material composition
- o Colour
- o Presence of hard parts such as buttons and zippers
Specialised software will collect data including weight and fibre composition for each piece. This data will enable tracking materials from pre-sorters through the ATSP and onto recyclers and, eventually, with Digital Product Passports.
“We are delighted to be working with C-8 to expand our innovative sorting and traceability technologies beyond Denmark. We see big potential in C-8 and their plans for the UK, and we are excited to be part of scaling textile sorting for recycling in Europe. We are impressed by their insight in the textile recycling industry and their ability to couple with brands and retailers in the UK. We look forward to following C-8 closely as they grow the UK market for automated sorting and textile-to-textile recycling.”
Rikke Bech, CEO/Co-Founder NewRetex Textile Sorting and Recycling
This equipment purchase marks the next phase of ecosystem development and collaboration with UK and European partners.
