Several UK retailers and charities are joining forces to build a domestic closed loop for textile recycling. Marks & Spencer, New Look, Sainsbury's and UK charity Oxfam have all joined The Circuit, a project initiated by textile development company Circle-8, with the goal of establishing a circular textile supply chain in the UK that uses locally recycled clothing as raw material.

The initiative brings retailers, textile recyclers, automated sorters, regeneration companies, manufacturers and digital technology players to the same table, seeking recycling pathways for end-of-life clothing and turning it into raw materials for future textile production.

According to relevant reports, the UK generated about 1.4 million tonnes of post-consumer textiles in 2024, nearly half of which is estimated to be no longer wearable. The Circuit is positioned precisely to fill the processing infrastructure gap for such textiles and to drive fibre-to-fibre recycling toward commercial viability at industrial scale.

Rachel Cosgrove-Pearce, Retail Director at Oxfam, said that infrastructure for recovering valuable fibres from end-of-life textiles is a key part of building a fashion system that relies less on virgin resources and has a smaller environmental impact, and that The Circuit brings together the expertise and investment needed to drive scale-up.

As the development company behind the project, Circle-8 is responsible for building the infrastructure, partnerships and commercial framework that connect textile recycling with future supplies of recycled materials, including automated textile sorting and pre-processing facilities that sort and pre-process recycled textiles to suit existing and emerging regeneration technologies.

The first phase of The Circuit will launch in January 2027 at Oxfam's site in Batley, Yorkshire, focusing on automated textile sorting, establishing reporting and traceability frameworks, identifying application opportunities for recycled materials, and building partnerships with regeneration partners, covering both mechanical and chemical recycling routes.

The founding participants are also inviting more retailers, regeneration companies and value chain partners to join. Development partners include Biffa and Ekman Group, while regeneration partners include Usha Yarns, Kipas, Reju and Worn Again Technologies.

Katharine Beacham, Head of Sustainability and Materials for Fashion, Home and Beauty at Marks & Spencer, said in a statement that retailers need "better solutions" to recover and regenerate materials after clothing reaches the end of its life, and that The Circuit brings several organisations in retail together to find viable outlets for non-rewearable textiles, marking an important step toward a more circular fashion future.

Ben Smith, Managing Director of Sainsbury's Tu Clothing, said the project allows retailers to "explore how post-consumer textiles generated here in the UK can be given new life as valuable raw materials."

Cyndi Rhoades, CEO and co-founder of Circle-8, noted that retailers involved in building the circular textile value chain will have the opportunity to influence its future direction, and stressed that no single organisation can build this value chain alone, expressing hope that more parties will join The Circuit.

Source: Marks & Spencer, New Look and Sainsbury’s join Oxfam to build UK textile recycling network · Originally published on 2026-09-25