Goodwill Industries International (GII), a secondhand retailer in North America, Reju, a materials regeneration company and WM, an environmental solutions provider, have announced a collaborative initiative to enhance textile recycling efforts across North America, forming a multi-year project that will address the challenges of textile waste through an integrated model of collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling.
Notably, the planned project builds on the research conducted by GII funded by the Walmart Foundation to assess the fibre composition of unsold textiles and develop the skills and systems to transform unwearable textiles into recycling feedstock.
According to Textile Exchange's Materials Market Report, in 2023 alone, less than 1% of the 124 million tonnes of textiles produced were recycled globally.
GII explained that this planned collaboration seeks to create a system that captures a significant increase in the share of discarded textiles that can be either resold or regenerated into new materials. GII and WM plan to work together on pilots to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale.
As part of the pilot, items unsuitable for resale will be sent to Reju for regeneration. Reju, which recently opened the "first" demonstration plant – Regeneration Hub Zero – in Germany, is preparing to scale its recycling technology to North America, potentially opening a US-based facility.
Owned by Technip Energies and leveraging technology originating from IBM research, Reju shared it is developing the infrastructure to take certain textile waste for conversion into Reju Polyester, which carries a 50% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester.
Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju, emphasised the importance of collaboration in driving sustainable change, stating: "Reuse is, and will continue to be, the highest value and is essential to the circular economic model for the benefit of all. Yet, among the products that are not reused, less than 1% are recycled globally today. 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."
Goodwill's president and CEO, Steve Preston, underscored the organisation’s role in advancing sustainability, noting that this project aligns with its long-standing mission of circularity.
He added: "Goodwill is looking to become a preferred partner of brands, retailers, technology companies, equipment providers, and government and non-governmental organisations."
GII further said that its local leaders across North America have been working with the sustainability team to develop the potential project.
GII believes initiatives like these are expected to continue to create jobs and additional revenue to fund Goodwill’s vital workforce programs and services. It plans to recover the value in nonwearable textiles to continue support for its workforce development programs.
In August, GII shared the results of a two-year circularity textile pilot project while introducing a new traceability study at its first-ever Sustainability Summit in Washington, DC.
