Circle-8 advances textile recycling with NewRetex single line sorter

Jangoulun Singsit

Thu, May 8, 2025, 2:43 AM 2 min read

The acquisition is intended to alteration the circular textile ecosystem wrong the UK by utilizing precocious technology. This inaugural volition facilitate the ethical recycling of textiles that cannot beryllium reused, contributing to the advancement of a much sustainable textile sector.

This sorter is partially funded by the Automatic-Sorting for Circularity and Textiles (ACT UK) project, which receives enactment from Innovate UK.

The ACT UK task fosters collaboration wrong the manufacture and aiding successful the plan of an Automated Textile Sorting & Pre-processing works (ATSP), susceptible of handling 25,000 tonnes (t) of textiles annually.Circle-8 is the largest assistance beneficiary.

Every year, implicit 700,000t of non-reusable textiles are generated successful the UK, of which, little than 1% is presently recycled into caller textile materials.

Circle-8 has been promoting the modulation towards fibre-to-fibre recycling by processing a web of ATSPs on with partners to person non-reusable textiles into feedstock for large-scale textile recyclers.

This procurement paves the mode for accrued collaboration with partners crossed the UK and Europe.

Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems co-founder and CEO Cyndi Rhoades said: “We are highly impressed by the attack NewRetex has taken with the improvement of this automated textiles sorting line. It volition alteration a important beforehand successful the modulation from manual to automated sorting of non-reusable textiles, laying the groundwork to enactment the standard up of fibre-to-fibre recycling plants for textiles and different recycling processes successful the UK.”

The precocious sorting enactment from NewRetex volition facilitate high-capacity sorting and precise categorisation of textiles based connected worldly composition, colour, and beingness of hard components similar buttons and zippers.

Specialised bundle associated with this strategy volition stitchery captious information specified arsenic value and fibre contented for each point sorted.

This accusation volition beryllium pivotal successful tracking materials done assorted stages from pre-sorting to processing astatine ATSPs and yet to recyclers, perchance culminating successful Digital Product Passports.

NewRetex Textile Sorting and Recycling CEO/co-founder Rikke Bech said: “We are delighted to beryllium moving with C-8 to grow our innovative sorting and traceability technologies beyond Denmark. We spot large imaginable successful C-8 and their plans for the UK, and we are excited to beryllium portion of scaling textile sorting for recycling successful Europe. We are impressed by their penetration successful the textile recycling manufacture and their quality to mates with brands and retailers successful the UK. We look guardant to pursuing C-8 intimately arsenic they turn the UK marketplace for automated sorting and textile-to-textile recycling."