There Will be Winners, Losers, and Those Who Come Together

How is Circulose being positioned? Is it a competitor of existing viscose or lyocell fibres? Or, do you expect to cut into the polyester segment too? Or, do you expect Circulose to be a segment in itself?
Tricia Carey: Circulose is the brand of Renewcell’s dissolving pulp, which is made of 100% recycled textiles. It is recyclable again and again, and it is a next-gen solution providing high-quality look and feel. Our direct customers are the fibre producers making viscose, modal, lyocell and acetate. We do not make fibre. However, we promote the fibre producers who use Circulose.

With a lack of sustainable solutions in the market we cannot only address substitution of viscose, but also replace cotton and even polyester with alternatives for filament applications. 

There's no shortage of textile waste in a world which is virtually drowning in it. So, now "sourcing" has a new dimension: sourcing of textile waste. How disorganised is the textile waste ecosystem, according to you? How are you streamlining the inflow of this waste stock? Which are the geographies that you are or would be sourcing from?
Tricia Carey: Currently 90 million tonnes of textiles are discarded annually with only 1% of textiles being recycled. Ultimately with Circulose, we can reduce the amount of textiles going to landfills.

There are many new initiatives, especially within Europe, to facilitate improvements in collecting and sorting of textiles. We source cellulosic-rich textiles with a consistent supply of post-industrial and post-consumer unused textiles. 

Talking of polyester, it would be one of the components of the clothes that you recycle. How is it being disposed of?
Tricia Carey: We can manage 5–10% of synthetics within our manufacturing process which we filter out through our technology.

Renewcell has signed a deal with Lenzing, which would technically be a competitor. How could you tell us more about this deal? How does it work? Probably, the same question for CTA Green Fibre.
Tricia Carey: Renewcell only manufactures pulp, branded as Circulose. Therefore, fibre producers like Lenzing and CTA green fibre are our direct customers. We focus on our speciality of making pulp from 100% recycled textiles and realise that there is a science to manufacturing fibre which our customers know best.

Renewcell was founded in 2012. And you already had a proof of concept in 2014, and also the first industrial scale plant in 2018. What took another four years to get to the commercial scale plant that was inaugurated recently? Were you still looking for some kind of breakthrough (because the lab to factory transition had already been made)?
Tricia Carey: Renewcell is the first to scale within our sector of the industry. Building an industrial plant, during a global pandemic, is a feat unto itself which requires a sharp team, offtake agreements, commercial demand, and financing. During all this time we continue to launch new commercial capsules to build demand and consumer awareness.

There's something on your website that I have not seen anywhere else: a whistleblowing feature. Could you tell us what was the thought process behind this? And why does it go to the HR department? For suppliers, it would make sense. But you also have a Supplier Code of Conduct. Please elaborate.
Tricia Carey: A whistle-blowing feature is quite commonly mandated for Western corporations. The collectors and sorters who we work with do have a code of conduct which we require as we bring a high level of integrity within the development of the evolving circular economy.

There's been a lot of frenetic activity in fibre development in the last few years. Would you agree (especially given the context that you would have been seeing this closely at least since 2012)?
Tricia Carey: This is truly the age of innovation. There has not been a new generic fibre since 1992 with the launch of lyocell.

After being in the man-made cellulosic fibre industry for 25 years, my expectation is that there will be some winners, losers, and those who come together. The industry is certainly going to look quite different after this decade of action. We all need to work towards lower environmental impacts and higher social standards within the global fashion industry.