Avery Dennison Invests in Circ for Textile-to-Textile Recycling

Avery Dennison has invested in Circ, a U.S.-based chemical recycler focused on harvesting new yarns from mixed textile waste.

Avery Dennison’s investment will help accelerate the commercialization of Circ’s innovation. Circ’s industrial-scale polycotton recycling pilot plants are in development. Once up and running, the sites will allow apparel brands and Avery Dennison to recycle mixed textile waste streams, such as polyester-cotton blends, into high-quality cellulose-based or PET-based yarns for use in apparel production.

With this investment, Avery Dennison joins leading apparel brands like Inditex in piloting the Circ technology.

The partnership represents Avery Dennison’s collaborative approach to providing solutions – not just products – to the global apparel market. As a provider of market-leading digital identification solutions for apparel supply chain traceability, Avery Dennison will work with Circ to test its own technologies in a real-world environment.

With digital identification solutions, such as RFID and QR codes, and the atma.io¹ cloud product platform, it’s possible to create digital product passports that can enable the circular economy, where materials are captured and re-used throughout the lifecycle.

Textile-to-textile recycling facilities are urgently needed by the world’s fashion brands and their suppliers who must reduce their carbon footprint, particularly their upstream and downstream (scope 3) emissions.

It’s estimated that 92 million tons² of textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry. It’s also anticipated that textile waste is to increase by around 60% between 2015 and 2030³, reaching an annual total of 148 million tons, unless circular models are adopted at scale.

A recent research report carried out by Avery Dennison titled “The Missing Billions,” uncovered that on average 6% of apparel inventory is wasted due to overproduction or damaged stock, the equivalent of 3% of annual profits – an estimated $15.3 billion globally.

“The time for circular strategies and their enabling technologies is now,” Michael Colarossi, VP, innovation, product line management and sustainability, Avery Dennison, said. “Using intelligent labeling in garments, we are working with Circ and other supply chain partners to drive a paradigm shift in the textile and fashion industries. Together we provide a solution for the take-back and sort-ing of waste at scale.”
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1 https://www.atma.io/ 
2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-020-0039-9 
3 https://globalfashionagenda.org/product/pulse-of-the-fashion-industry-2017/