Primark has signed a long-term offtake agreement with international recycling technology company Circ to increase its use of recycled polyester made from textile waste. The deal attempts to move textile-to-textile recycling from technical R&D toward scaled commercial application, but collection, sorting, feedstock quality and recycling costs remain the key variables determining how fast it can be commercialized.

Key points

  • Primark signed a long-term offtake agreement with recycling technology company Circ, purchasing recycled polyester derived from textile waste.
  • Circ's technology can separate polyester from cellulosic fibers in blended textile waste, one of the industry's main recycling challenges.
  • The agreement binds both parties' roles: Primark gains a path to higher recycled content, while Circ gains the long-term buyer demand needed for scale-up.

Under the agreement, Primark will purchase recycled polyester from Circ on a long-term basis, with textile waste as the feedstock. For Primark, this sourcing channel means an actionable path to raising the recycled content share in its products, while also opening a new supply source for secondary polyester. For Circ, locking in a long-term buyer amounts to clearer demand support as it pushes toward scaling its technology.

Circ's technology route targets one of the thorniest problems in textile recycling: separating blended waste. Its process can split polyester and cellulosic fibers from mixed textile waste, returning previously hard-to-handle blended fabrics to the fiber loop.

What this partnership reflects is a more fundamental structural shift in the textile circular economy — brands must commit to purchasing recycled fibers, and recyclers must have commercial-scale production capacity. The long-term agreement between the two sides locks in this layer of mutual dependence.

(The original ending note: collection, sorting, feedstock quality and recycling costs will determine how quickly textile-to-textile recycling can become a viable commercial alternative across the industry.)

Industry significance
When a brand signs a long-term offtake, it turns demand for recycled fiber from a pilot project into part of its roadmap; but whether it can truly replace virgin polyester depends on how fast the recycling side scales up collection, sorting and cost. For the used-clothing and textile recycling industry, whether this kind of multi-year "brand + technology provider" agreement can be replicated will determine the market capacity of textile-to-textile circularity.

Source: Primark expands textile-to-textile recycling partnership with Circ · Originally published 2026-09-30