Circ, a US based textile recycling company, has entered into an agreement with polymer producer Selenis headquartered in Portalegre, Portugal, to accelerate industrial scale-up of recycled polyester. Under the partnership, Selenis will toll and polymerize thousands of metric tons of Circ polyester annually from monomers derived from textiles at end-of-life.
This partnership comes shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans in May to invest US $482 million to create a plant in France based on Circ’s polycotton textile-to-textile recycling technology.
Using Selenis’s polymerization capacity, Circ intends to incorporate its recycled polyester into existing supply chains in apparel sectors such as activewear, fashion, and everyday basics. The agreement reinforces Circ’s overall dual-product strategy of recycled polyester and lyocell.
Circ CEO Peter Majeranowski stated that the partnership is vital to scaling circular materials at an industrial level. Selenis CEO Duarte Matos Gil stated that this type of collaboration is critical in ensuring materials are reused instead of downcycled or thrown away. He suggested the continued success of circular textile supply chains will rely on policy support, regulation that facilitates scaling textile circularity, and investment in various advanced recycling systems.
The partnership further opens up another step toward a closed-loop textile recycling process becoming widely accepted in manufacturing.
