Accelerating Circularity announced the launch of a new project based in Europe, funded by leaders in global retail, circular supply chain, and textile recycling. The founding members of the Steering Committee for Accelerating Circularity Europe include Inditex, Zalando, DuPont Biomaterials, Lenzing, Recover™, Recyclatex Group, GIZ, Gr3n, Reverse Resources, and Texaid.

The program, which intends to accelerate the textile industry's transition from linear to circular working methods, was initially launched in the United States, with Target, VF Corporation, Wal-Mart, and Gap Inc. supporting it. Working groups with the European founding partners are currently being formed to establish new methods for garment take-back programs and circular product requirements.

Talking about the organization’s expansion, Karla Magruder, founder and president said successful initiatives, in their opinion, are those that can be replicated and scaled to have maximum effect. The launch of Accelerating Circularity Europe highlights this strategy and moves them closer to their aim of assisting the textile industry to create a large-scale, worldwide circular textile system.

Head of Circularity at Zalando, Laura Coppen, said they’re thrilled to be a part of the ACPE Steering Committee, which is working to promote the industry at the ‘end of life' product stage. With their platform's reach, they can help scale circular textile systems and shift business processes from linear to circular. To do so, they need to work together across industries to fast scale solutions, which they believe this initiative achieves.

She adds that their circularity plan strives to incorporate circularity ideas within their company, as well as with their brand partners and customers. They want to make sure that items don't wind up in landfills or incinerators, and they think this initiative will help them learn and design better systems in the long run.

Helene Smits, Chief Sustainability Officer at Recover™, said at Recover™ they consider scalability to be one of the most significant difficulties facing the circular textile sector, and it is a key component of their approach. Accelerating Circularity Europe has the potential to be a significant facilitator of this movement, and they are excited to join the ACPE Steering Committee as a founding member.

The European project's strategy and decisions will be established by the Steering Committee. For the creation of take-back programs and circular product requirements, they will assemble a Brand and Retailer Working Group. A Spent Textile Working Group of select collectors, recyclers, and preprocessors will address issues in collecting, sorting, and feedstock preparation. 

The European project, like the one in the United States, will be divided into various phases: research and mapping, modeling and connecting, trials and assessment. The new initiative will build on previous work by adapting it to the European context.

On the other side, there are a variety of methods to be involved in the project: NGOs may become collaborators, and businesses may join technical working groups. Also, become system partners once the project's testing phase begins.