Goodwill, WM and Reju will collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale. Those not suitable can be recycled and regenerated into new materials. | Photo courtesy of Reju
TEXTILES
Goodwill, WM and Reju Join Forces to Achieve a Circular Economy
Circularity may be a new word, but it’s not a new concept. Goodwill Industries has been doing it for over a century, and now the largest workforce development network and secondhand retailer in the U.S. is ramping up its efforts even more thanks to a new partnership with WM, provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, and Reju, the progressive textile-to-textile regeneration company.
“With our 120-year legacy as a leader in circularity,” said Steve Preston, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International, “Goodwill is positioning our local nonprofit enterprises at the forefront of creating systems for textile recycling and recovery.”
Goodwill, WM and Reju plan to work together to collect, sort and grade discarded textiles for resale. Items not suitable for resale can then be recycled and regenerated into new materials upon the completion of a new U.S. facility by Reju, whose primary facility is in Frankfurt, Germany. The program is intended to contribute to creating a circular textile-to-textile ecosystem.
Owned by Technip Energies and relying on technology originating with IBM research, Reju is developing the infrastructure to regenerate waste at scale, starting with polyester. The end product, Reju Polyester, is expected to have a 50 percent lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester and can be regenerated infinitely.
“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,” said Patrik Frisk, CEO of Reju.
“Reuse is, and will continue to be, the highest value and is essential to the circular economic model for the benefit of all,” Frisk continued. “Yet among the products that are not reused, less than 1 percent are recycled globally today. A textile-to-textile circular ecosystem can only be optimized when more textiles are diverted from the waste stream and into the recovery cycle.”
The Goodwill network plays a critical role in powering the circular economy, having recovered over 4.3 billion pounds of donated products in 2023, which supported the development of skills training, job placement, career-advancement opportunities and other community-based services for more than 1.7 million people.
