By Ludwig Burger and Greta Rosen Fondahn
FRANKFURT, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Textile recycling firm Reju, owned by French energy infrastructure company Technip Energies, said it will build a large polyester recycling plant in southwest France as startups and retailers take aim at fast fashion’s waste problem.
“(W)e are reinforcing our mission to transform textile waste into valuable, circular resources,” CEO Patrik Frisk said in a statement.
The new plant in Lacq would turn used textiles from national waste collection and recycling operations into new polyester fibres. Reju has already announced plans for plants in the Netherlands and the United States.
Final investment decisions are pending for the three plants, each targeting around 50,000 metric tons per year of recycled polyester, with a cost at least twice that of virgin polyester.
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Fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Zara owner Inditex, keen to make their businesses more sustainable and meet tougher regulations without sacrificing growth, are backing textile-to-textile recycling startups.
Production of polyester, made from petrochemicals, has increased in recent years, according to the latest estimate from Textile Exchange. Low cost and durability have driven widespread use for a variety of clothing, from dresses to sportswear.
H&M-backed polyester recycling startup Syre has a $600 million offtake agreement with the retailer, as well as deals with Nike, Gap and Target. Inditex has invested in Circ and agreed to buy recycled polyester from Ambercycle.
But the industry is still in its infancy, and moving from pilot to commercial scale is costly. Syre told Reuters it would need to raise up to $700 million to build a planned large-scale plant in Vietnam.
Reju CEO Frisk, who previously led sportswear brand Under Armour, told reporters at the company’s pilot factory in Frankfurt that the price premium was justified, adding that material accounts for only a small percentage of a garment’s total cost.
Reju plans investments between 300 million and 400 million euros ($355-475 million) per site. Chief Technology Officer Antoni Mairata said seven or eight brands were lined up to sign purchase agreements.
The textile recycling industry has often struggled to gain traction. Renewcell, which made pulp from chemically recycled cotton and was backed by H&M, filed for bankruptcy in 2024. Renamed Circulose after private equity firm Altor took over its assets, it has announced partnerships with Mango and Marks & Spencer but has yet to restart production.
Currently, 98% of recycled polyester is made from plastic bottles, according to Textile Exchange, drawing criticism for diverting plastic bottles from an established recycling loop.
The price of recycled materials, and whether retailers try to charge a premium for products made from them, will be key factors in a fiercely competitive fashion industry.
“If I really have to boil it down to one thing, unfortunately, it’s price,” said Catharina Martinez-Pardo at Boston Consulting Group. Research has shown that consumers are less willing to pay higher prices for more sustainable products, she said.
($1 = 0.8430 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt, Greta Rosen Fondahn in Stockholm and Helen Reid in Paris; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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