Goodwill and Reju to collaborate with WM on multi-year textile recycling initiative

A new collaboration aims to develop a model for regional textile collection, sortation, reuse and recycling that intends to divert non-wearable textile materials from the waste stream across the North American continent.

Non-profit organisation Goodwill and materials regeneration company Reju have partnered with WM, an environmental solutions provider, for the multi-year initiative, which aims to aid in the advancement of textile recycling in the said region.

The trio look to address the current small scale of the recycled textiles industry, and are seeking to create a system to capture a greater percentage of discarded textiles for resale or regeneration.

They will work together on pilots to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles, a portion of which are to be provided to Reju to potentially be recycled and regenerated into new materials in Reju’s soon-to-be built US-based facility, designed to serve the American market.

Chief executive officer of Reju, Patrik Frisk, said: “To tackle the challenges posed by discarded textiles, we need radical collaboration and cooperation, and through our potential project with Goodwill and WM, we are building the ecosystem to achieve textile circularity.”

Frisk continued: “A textile-to-textile circular ecosystem can only be optimised when more textiles are diverted from the waste stream and into the recovery cycle. Goodwill and WM are looking to play a critical role in recovery through the collection and sorting of textiles in North America.”