#Recycling / Circular Economy

2025-04-29

Practical, market-driven End-of-Waste criteria are key to textile circularity

As the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) works on the development of harmonised End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria for textiles, EuRIC, the voice of Europe’s recycling industries, calls for an approach that is practical, market-driven, and innovation-friendly.

EoW criteria must reflect the realities of textile collection, sorting, and recycling to enable a truly circular textiles value chain. Valuable textiles – including workwear, technical items, or garments with minor defects (i.e. missing buttons, or small stains) – must not be excluded from reuse or recycling due to overly rigid definitions or current technological limitations. Trusted and trained sorting operators are best placed to determine reusability based on real market demand.

Sorters and recyclers must not be administratively burdened with disproportionate requirements. The sector needs quality assurance frameworks that are realistic and easy to implement, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Support for the JRC proposed approach that grants the EoW for recycling status afterthe recycling process, in line with the Waste Framework Directive, which defines recycling as “any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances." While sorting for recycling is an essential step, output materials of this operation are intermediate fractions that still need to undergo recycling and should not be eligible for EoW status. As recommended by the JRC for the mechanical recycling, EoW status shall be granted at the point at which the output material is either ready to be used directly as a textile product or is ready to be used for the production of new textile products.

Recyclers cannot be held responsible for unknown chemical content in post-consumer textiles, and red tape must be avoided. An approach should be found that ensures compliance with the chemicals legislation without harming the textiles circular economy, and by considering the challenges of tracking thousands of substances in post-consumer textiles.

The EoW framework must actively support innovation. This includes enabling R&D through targeted exemptions for small volumes of textile waste, allowing the testing of new materials and recycling processes under safe conditions, without being blocked by rigid standards.

A successful EoW framework must reduce barriers - not create new ones. The future of textile recycling in Europe depends on smart rules that empower sorters & recyclers, drive investment, and unlock the full potential of circularity.

The European Recycling Conference 2025 heads to Hamburg

The European Recycling Conference (ERC) is coming to Hamburg, Germany, on 1 October 2025. This year’s edition, co-organised with EuRIC’s German members BDSV, bvse, and VDM, will explore the topic of “Building a competitive market for recycled materials”, and their critical role in delivering on the EU’s Competitiveness Compass and Clean Industrial Deal objectives.

Novel flame-retardant and recyclable fiber-reinforced composite

Airplanes and passenger trains must meet strict safety requirements, including fire safety standards. This calls for materials that are flame-retardant, lightweight, robust, and scalable. Empa researchers, in collaboration with their industry partner Elantas, have now succeeded for the first time in making such a material – a composite – fully recyclable.

Indorama Ventures advances circular fashion through RECO Collective 2026

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, is taking RECO Collective into its 12th year under the theme “The Next Original,” reinforcing its mission to promote recycling and upcycling knowledge while encouraging SMEs in the fashion industry to embrace recycled materials. The program focuses particularly on recycled polyester (rPET) yarns and fabrics made from post-consumer PET bottles, using these materials to create value-added products that combine distinctive design with consumer needs and market opportunities.

Cotton Brazil Dialogues 2026 concludes with 50 international participants immersed in Brazilian cotton production

The Cotton Brazil Dialogues concludes its 2026 edition after a series of technical visits to farms, cotton gins and reference centers, as well as workshops focused on Brazilian cotton production. A total of 50 participants from 14 countries took part in the field trips. The initiative is led by the Brazilian Association of Cotton Growers (Abrapa) and the National Association of Cotton Exporters (Anea), with support from the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil).

WHILL selects Teijin’s tough, lightweight Carbon Fiber Composite for new last-mile mobility

Teijin Limited announced today that WHILL Inc., a global leader in inclusive mobility technology, has selected Sereebo® P CFP series, a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) material, for key structural components of the upcoming WHILL Model C Lite. Sereebo® P CFP series provides high strength, light weight, design flexibility and system cost advantages to the Model C Lite, which is a battery powered, single-seat, last-mile device. This new model combines maneuverability with light weight and one-handed folding to ensure ease of handling and operation.

ZymoChem secures $4 million in renewed federal funding to advance U.S. biomanufacturing of critical materials and their supply chains

ZymoChem, the specialty chemicals company dedicated to bringing decarbonization, sustainability, and supply chain resiliency to the chemical industry through innovative biological manufacturing, today announced the resumption and expansion of its federal research portfolio. The company has been notified that previously paused work under a $5 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program is officially back on, to be joined by continuing collaborations with three of the nation's premier national laboratories.