On the 10th and 11th of September, the annual Circular Textile Days took place in ‘s Hertogenbosch. Cirmar took part through our collaborations with GAIA Circulair and Rütex, and made use of the opportunity to learn about developments in the textiles industry, connect and reconnect with frontrunners in circular textiles, and gather inspiration for the next steps we’re taking. Here’s a short recap.
Circular textile partners
One of the themes that was continuously addressed during the programme, but just as well in conversations we had: collaborations are everything. Especially if we want to scale the circular economy. We were pleased to see lots of interest for the booth held by our partners GAIA Circulair and Rütex. This interest is no surprise to us – their joint proposition is unique, as it covers everything from collection and sorting of textiles to creating new products. We’re glad to be able to contribute with our circular economy expertise and impact calculations that allow our partners to make circular progress tangible and measurable. We believe the best is yet to come!
What stood out during the Circular Textile Days
The ever-growing interest for, and presence of Digital Product Passports (DPPs). If you visited the Circular Textile Days, there really was no escaping it: DPPs are quickly becoming a hot topic in the realm of circularity, but in the wider field of sustainability as well. We were pleased to see and hear about pilots, other solution providers and updates on standards and legislation. We do find ourselves repeating the same message over and over again, and we’re happy to do so again: DPPs are about maintaining and recovering quality and value of materials. Yes, they have to work instinctively. Yes, they have to comply with future legislation. And yes, they should allow companies to efficiently communicate about their sustainable efforts. Still, we found lots of talks were heavily focused on legislative developments. Let’s focus on the most important message: simply get started, and find out about all the upsides!
Material innovation is ongoing, and its scaling. Many recyclers face challenges and that has its effect on the transition to a circular economy. Without denying that this is a genuine problem, we were also pleased to see material innovations gaining traction. A great example is SaXcell. They share the news that they will be building a production facility in Enschede, the Netherlands. They means they are scaling and near-shoring their production. It will also contribute their plans to raise the level of post-consumer and deadstock recycled content in their product. Exciting developments.
The economics are very much part of the discussion. Views on the cost of transitioning to a circular economy vary, but we were happy to notice that it is at least part of the conversation. There are lots of ways to make circular business cases work. We believe there is a lot of work to be done to make everyone realise how. Still, in most talks, the question of cost and how to make it work was on the table. And that’s a good thing! The next step is to make sure everyone has a holistic view of these costs. Yes, investments are necessary and they may seem steep. But if we look at all the ways in which circularity creates value, it simply generates more than it costs. By creating cleaner products which we can reuse, repair and recover to create new products, we can make sure industries thrive without further damaging our surroundings.
Every day is a Circular Textile Day
We look forward to next year event. But to be fair, we are even more excited about taking meaningful steps every day! We will do so for many industries, textiles included. Through our partnerships, with our DPP-platform – C_passport®, and through projects like [Re]value. If you are looking to do so as well, or simply want to learn more about how we want to make the transition to a circular economy, get in touch.
