UK Retailers Launch "The Circuit" to Scale Textile-to-Textile Recycling
Major UK retailers and textile-sector organizations have joined forces to develop a new system for recovering and recycling clothing that can no longer be reused, targeting one of the most difficult parts of the fashion industry's transition toward a circular economy.
Marks & Spencer (M&S), New Look, Sainsbury’s, Oxfam and Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems have launched "The Circuit", a collaborative initiative intended to transform UK-generated post-consumer textiles into raw materials for future textile production. Development partners include Biffa and Ekman Group, while recycling partners include Usha Yarns, Kipas, Reju and Worn Again Technologies.
The initiative is designed to connect parts of the textile value chain that often operate separately, including retailers, collection and recovery organizations, automated sorting facilities, recyclers, digital technology providers and manufacturers.
Its central objective is to establish commercially viable pathways through which non-reusable clothing can be collected, sorted and pre-processed into consistent feedstock suitable for fibre-to-fibre recycling.
Addressing the UK's Textile Waste Challenge
The project responds to the significant volume of textiles reaching the end of their first useful life in the UK.
WRAP's Textiles Market Situation Report 2024 estimated that approximately 1.45 million tonnes of used textiles were generated in the UK in 2022. Around 711,000 tonnes were discarded in household bins and general waste containers at household waste recycling centres, representing about 49% of used textiles. Most of this material was subsequently incinerated with energy recovery or sent to landfill.
The scale of this residual waste stream presents both an environmental challenge and a potential source of secondary raw materials.
Reuse remains higher in the waste hierarchy than recycling, meaning clothing that can continue to be worn should generally remain in circulation for as long as possible. The more difficult question is what happens when garments are damaged, unsuitable for resale, or otherwise unable to return to the second-hand market.
"The Circuit" is specifically targeting this non-reusable segment.
Automated Sorting and Pre-Processing
The first phase of "The Circuit" is expected to begin in January 2027 at Oxfam's facility in Batley, Yorkshire.
The programme will test automated textile sorting alongside pre-processing systems and reporting frameworks designed to improve traceability. Oxfam will help separate reusable garments from materials requiring recycling and operate automated sorting equipment as part of the initial programme.
Automated sorting could become increasingly important as textile recycling expands because different recycling technologies require relatively precise feedstock specifications.
Fibre composition, colour, trims, coatings and other garment characteristics can determine whether a textile is suitable for a particular mechanical or chemical recycling process. Mixed fibres and increasingly complex garment construction can make traditional manual sorting difficult when processing large volumes.
According to WRAP, preparing textiles to meet recycler specifications can increase their environmental and economic value compared with unsorted waste. The organization estimates that the current UK feedstock volume for textile recycling is approximately 34,000 tonnes, highlighting the difference between the amount of textile waste generated and the material currently reaching recycling processes.
Connecting Waste with Recycling Capacity
"The Circuit" follows the Innovate UK-funded ACT project, which examined the infrastructure required to scale automated textile sorting and support a circular textile ecosystem in the UK.
Rather than concentrating only on collection, the new initiative seeks to connect textile recovery directly with downstream recycling and manufacturing demand.
Circle-8 is developing the infrastructure and commercial networks intended to link recovered textiles with recyclers and manufacturers. The model includes Automated Textile Sorting and Pre-processing Facilities, or ATSPs, capable of converting mixed post-consumer material into recycling feedstock.
Both mechanical and chemical recycling routes are expected to form part of the wider system.
Mechanical recycling typically involves shredding textiles back into fibres, which can then be incorporated into new textile or non-textile products. Chemical recycling technologies can break certain materials down further into chemical building blocks or regenerated fibres, although technologies, commercial maturity and acceptable feedstocks vary significantly.
Retailers Take a Larger Role in Material Recovery
The involvement of large retailers is notable because developing fibre-to-fibre recycling requires more than recycling technology alone.
Recyclers need reliable quantities of suitable material, while manufacturers need recycled inputs that meet requirements for quality, performance, price and traceability. Brands also influence garment design and material selection, meaning decisions made before products reach consumers can ultimately determine how easily they can be recycled.
M&S said "The Circuit" complements its existing "Another Life" programme covering rewear, repair, resale and recycling. The retailer has set an ambition to give five million items another life by 2030.
New Look and Sainsbury's have similarly positioned participation in the programme as an opportunity to test practical circular supply-chain models and better understand how recycled material markets can operate at larger scale.
Commercial Viability Remains Central
The technical ability to recycle textiles does not automatically create a viable circular market.
Collection costs, sorting infrastructure, fibre quality, contamination, recycling costs and demand for recycled material all influence whether textile-to-textile recycling can compete economically with virgin fibres.
WRAP has identified financing mechanisms, automated sorting capacity and fibre-to-fibre recycling infrastructure as areas requiring further development if the UK is to retain more value from post-consumer textiles domestically.
"The Circuit" therefore represents more than a clothing collection programme. Its significance will depend on whether participating companies can demonstrate that large volumes of non-reusable clothing can be converted into consistent recycling feedstock and ultimately returned to textile manufacturing.
The first Batley phase will provide an early test of that model. If the operational and commercial systems prove scalable, similar networks could help reduce the amount of textile material entering general waste while increasing the supply of secondary fibres available to manufacturers.
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