Sweden's H&M Group & Remondis build joint venture to recycle textiles

Looper intends to become a preferred feedstock provider to companies and innovators engaged in textile resale and recycling. The standalone joint venture is starting its operations in Europe and aims to extend the highest use of approximately 40 million garments in 2023. The company plans to innovate within textile collection and sorting, for example by testing new collection schemes and implementing automated sorting technologies such as near-infrared sorting, as well as by developing an assortment of partners in the areas of reuse and recycling, H&M Group and Remondis said in a joint press release.

“We are excited to announce the launch of Looper Textile Co. Used and unwanted garments must first be collected and sorted into different streams, such as by type of material or garment, in order to be reused or recycled. Today, less than 40 per cent of used clothes are collected in the European Union. Consequently, 60 per cent of post-consumer textiles go directly to waste. By building infrastructure and solutions for collection and sorting, we hope to move one step closer toward enabling circularity, thereby minimising the CO² impact and improving resource efficiency,” said Emily Bolon, CEO of Looper Textile Co.

“We are convinced that the textile loop, due to its very high complexity, can only be closed with trusting, innovative and like-minded partners along the value chain and are pleased to have found the synergy between H&M Group and Remondis,” said Marc Schubert, COO of Looper Textile Co.

H&M Group was the first fashion company to launch a garment collecting initiative worldwide in 2013 and has, through its investment arm H&M CO:LAB, invested in companies that develop technologies to enable textile recycling. With the creation of this standalone joint venture, H&M Group is participating more directly in developing the infrastructure that is necessary to close the loop of fashion. Remondis is a long-standing leader in waste management, with invaluable know-how in providing collection and sorting solutions at scale.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)