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Author: Adam Brady

Worn Again Technologies Brings Together Cross-Industry Circular Advisory Panel

Worn Again Technologies’ Founder Cyndi Rhoades has convened a Circular Advisory Panel (CAP) for guidance and influence as the company progresses towards commercialisation in the circular textile economy. The CAP will help design, develop and support the adoption of our Circular Licensing Model, giving an authoritative and global perspective on how to successfully embed our future business in circularity. The panel is in place to help deliver tangible success to our future plant operator customers, preparing them to access their markets and giving them a competitive advantage as a result of collective insights. We are delighted to have brought together such a high-profile and cross-disciplinary group relevant to the development of a circular business, comprising experts from key areas within textiles circularity and our wider network: circular and systems design, manufacture, fashion and textiles, digitisation, transparency, policy, economics, waste disposal, recycling innovation and engagement. These trailblazers will help oversee our progress, push for further opportunities or identify any threats from within their respective industries, and bring their unique and system-specific insight to our growing knowledge hub. Like any technology company, we face significant challenges when scaling up. As a circular company, we face an even steeper mountain to climb as we cannot only depend on the success of our own technology development and business model trajectory; we must also support and connect with all of the other moving elements in our circular system to succeed. This outward-looking approach will build solid cross-system foundations and relationships for Worn Again Technologies, to anticipate potential commercial hurdles, and to minimise future risk through knowledge-sharing as we grow and develop our business.

New and updated industry partnerships and collaborations

It has been a busy few months behind the scenes at Worn Again Technologies and we have become a member of some industry initiatives. These give us the opportunity to interact in working groups to learn best practices to prepare our technology to enter the market. While their motivations vary, we all are working towards a common goal of a world which eliminates textile waste, increases recycling rates and propels the industry towards circularity. Read below about our new engagements with Textile Exchange, EuRIC and PetCore. Textile Exchange  We are proud to work alongside Textile Exchange as a supporting member. They offer deep insight into textile supply chain and they have been leading programmes to accelerate the use of preferred materials as well as certification and standards to ensure transparency across the global textile industry. Collaborating with their wide network of brands, retailers and suppliers, we will be able to provide crucial elements to build best practise around circular raw materials. MISSION Textile Exchange inspires and equips people to accelerate sustainable practices in the textile value chain. We focus on minimizing the harmful impacts of the global textile industry and maximizing its positive effects. APPROACH Textile Exchange engages and catalyzes the textile industry across the supply chain through partnerships and collaborations, building knowledge and capacity to inform and educate. We further leverage our influence to create action, change and collective impact. GOALS
  • Embed sustainability into evolving business and supply chain strategies
  • Make it easier for companies to adapt to changing opportunities and requirements in textile sustainability
  • Ensure that actions taken toward sustainability result in real and meaningful change
VISION Textile Exchange envisions a global textile industry that protects and restores the environment and enhances lives. For more information, click here: TextileExchange EuRIC We are delighted that EuRIC accepted our application. This gives us the opportunity to contribute in providing inputs on any EU policy and regulatory initiative which could have an impact on the collection, sorting and preparing for re-use and for end of use textile recycling. Support and interaction with European policy makers is crucial to prepare our next steps of technology scale up we have been working for. EuRIC Textiles aims at promoting, representing and protecting the collective interests of the European textiles re-use and recycling industry. This industry consists of companies and organizations who collect, sort for re-use and recycling, transport and market used textiles, shoes and accessories. The Textiles Branch was founded in 2019 when textiles re-use and recycling became one of the top priorities within the European Union. EuRIC Textiles Members are national re-use and recycling federations as well as companies in lieu active throughout Europe in the field of collecting and processing post-consumer textiles. The primary focus of EuRIC Textiles will be:
  • Monitoring the implementation of the EU’s Textiles Strategy;
  • Promoting extended producer responsibility (EPR) for new textiles with eco-modulation of fees;
  • Supporting eco-design criteria for textiles;
  • Encouraging end-of-waste (EoW) criteria for textiles which have been prepared for re-use;
  • Foster recycled content targets for textiles to pull the demand for quality recycled fibers.
For more information, click here: EuRIC PetCore Our polymer recycling technology is effectively a dual process. It can take in end-of-use pure polyester and polycotton blended endof-use textiles on one process stream, and PET bottles and plastic packaging in a separate process stream. In the latter, our technology is able to retain PET in polymer form and extract PET pellets which can be reintroduced into the production chain with the same qualities as its virgin equivalent and with a lower environmental footprint (less water, heat and energy are used, releasing fewer CO2 emissions). Becoming member of PetCore will give us the chance to explore opportunities of scale-up in the plastic business and learn operations and requirements in this industry. Petcore Europe, based in Brussels, is the association representing the complete PET value chain in Europe since 1993. Its mission is:
  • to ensure that the entire PET industry is well aligned to enhance its value and sustainable growth,
  • to represent the PET industry before the European institutions and other stakeholders,
  • to ensure that PET is positioned as an outstanding packaging material and recognised as environmentally sound,
  • to support and validate innovative packaging solutions from a recycling perspective and
  • to work with all interested parties to ensure a continuous increase of PET post-consumer collection and recycling.
For more information, click here: Petcore

Canopy Planet Next Generation Solutions

We are glad to announce we have become a partner in Canopy Planet Next Generation Solutions campaign, supporting the protection of ancient and endangered forests as part of our commitment towards enabling a circular economy.

By recapturing cellulose pulp from polycotton-cellulose blended end of use textiles with our regenerative recycling technology, we can provide new raw materials to the textile supply chain which will no longer have to depend on virgin resources, thereby reducing the pressure that forests and woodlands face.

We are very proud to be working alongside an NGO that dedicates itself to protecting vast areas of our natural world that are under threat from increased global market demand.

We look forward to contributing and teaming up with other organisations to achieve a common goal of offering alternative feedstocks, propelling next-generation, circular cellulose production for textiles as we scale up our technology.

Learn more about Next Generation Solutions and check out our policy here for more information on how we are getting involved.

About Canopy

Canopy is a not-for-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting forests, species and climate. Canopy has collaborated with more than 750 companies to develop innovative solutions and make their supply chains more sustainable to help protect our world’s remaining Ancient and Endangered Forests. Canopy’s brand partners include H&M, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Stella McCartney, Target, TC Transcontinental, The Globe and Mail, The Guardian Media Group, UNIQLO/Fast Retailing, Zara/Inditex and many other well-known brands and giants in their sectors.

Canopy’s forest conservation work focuses on the influential relationship between large corporate purchasers and the mills that supply them with pulp, print grade paper, paper packaging and Man Made Cellulosic Fibres (MMCF). In helping major purchasers develop and implement forest conservation policies we leverage forest protection in key regions, improve forestry practices and develop the market that draws Next Generation alternatives into production.

Canopy is funded by philanthropic foundations and individual donors who share our passion for the planet.

www.canopyplanet.org

The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment

We have signed The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment which unites businesses, governments, and other organisations behind a common vision and targets to address plastic waste and pollution at its source. Signatories include companies that represent 20 per cent of global plastic packaging produced, as well as governments, NGOs, universities, industry associations, investors, and other organisations. The Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation leads the engagement with the private sector (the business signatories and endorsers), and UNEP leads the engagement with the governments. At the heart of the Global Commitment is a vision of a circular economy for plastic in which it never becomes waste. Signatories commit to three actions to realise this vision: Eliminate all problematic and unnecessary plastic items. Innovate to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. Circulate all the plastic items we use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment. Worn Again Technologies’ mission is to replace the use of virgin materials by recapturing raw materials from non-reusable products. Our polymer recycling technology is an example of being able to recapture plastics resources that already exist, reducing the need to tap into virgin resources. Our process is able to retain PET polymer and produce PET pellets as outputs which can be used as new raw material into production supply chain. Our values strongly align with the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to eliminate, innovate and circulate. Learn more about The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. About The Ellen MacArthur Foundation The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010 to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Since its creation the charity has emerged as a global thought leader, establishing the circular economy on the agenda of decision makers across business, government, and academia. With the support of its Strategic Partners, the Foundation’s work focuses on six interlinking areas:
  • Learning: Developing the vision, skills and mindsets needed to transition to a circular economy
  • Business: Catalysing circular innovation and creating the conditions for it to reach scale
  • Institutions, Government and Cities: Creating the enabling conditions for a circular economy to thrive
  • Insight and Analysis: Providing robust evidence about the benefits and implications of the transition
  • Systemic Initiatives: Transforming key material flows to scale the circular economy globally
  • Communications: Engaging a global audience around the circular economy
www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org