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Textile Recycling News Round-Up
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
By SPESA
We have seen an uptick in textile recycling news this month (let's call it Spring Cleaning), so we're sharing a list that may be of interest to Behind the Seams readers.
Global equipment provider ABB says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sweden-based Syre to explore the automation, electrification and digitalization of textile-to-textile polyester recycling in Vietnam.
Syre And JEPLAN Announce Strategic Partnership To Accelerate Textile-To-Textile Recycling - April 2, 2026 - Press Release via Textile World JEPLAN, INC. the Japanese pioneer developing and operating chemical recycling technologies for circularity in packaging and textiles, and Syre, the textile impact company on a mission to hyperscale textile-to-textile recycling, announced a strategic partnership to extensively accelerate the timeline towards commercialization of next generation textile-to-textile polyester recycling technology.
Despite being less than a month old, California’s first-in-the-nation textile EPR program is already headed to court. The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has filed a petition in the Sacramento County Superior Court challenging CalRecycle’s selection of Landbell USA to run the state’s landmark Responsible Textile Recovery Act.
Additional coverage in Just Style.
The alliance focuses on scaling textile recycling and reuse by transforming post-consumer waste into new value streams.
In an industrial park in Zhangjiagang, a small city on China’s east coast, a large humming and hissing machine feeds on piles of used clothes and sorts them. It uses artificial intelligence to sort them by composition at high speed, offering a glimpse into how AI could play a role in reducing the impact of synthetic textile waste. The Fastsort-Textile machine, created by DataBeyond, was named one of Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025.
Reju Secures €135 Million In Dutch NIKI Funding For Industrial-Scale Textile-To-Textile Regeneration Hub At Chemelot Industrial Park, The Netherlands - April 1, 2026 - Press Release via Textile World Reju™, the progressive textile-to-textile regeneration company, has been awarded €135 million in funding under the Netherlands’ Nationale Investeringsregeling Klimaatprojecten Industrie (NIKI) program. The funding will support Reju’s planned industrial-scale Regeneration Hub at Chemelot Industrial Park in Sittard-Geleen, covering both the investment phase and ongoing operations, and represents a critical milestone on the path toward final investment decision.
The nonprofit SneakCœurZ is in the business of sorting the shoes to check which ones can be resold or redistributed, and which have to be rejected. It says it collected 30,000 pairs of used sneakers last year and resold 2,000 pairs, and wants to scale up that process.
The athletic apparel retailer is backing Epoch Biodesign, which produces virgin-quality recycled polymers — like nylon — with a lower carbon footprint.
One area that leading mills hope will remain resilient is the denim industry’s commitment to circularity and recycled cotton.
"The fast-innovating textile recycling sector is looking for better ways to identify and sort feedstocks for both reuse and recycling applications. Startup Refiberd wants to make that process easier."
