EIB signs loan agreement with Sweden’s Renewcell to promote fashion circularity

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a loan deal with Renewcell, a fashion industry innovator and recycling firm, for up to SEK 311 million (€30.75 million) for its first commercial-scale facility in Sundsvall, Sweden.

A group of experts from Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology launched the company in January 2012. Circulose, a Renewcell product, is the first commercially accessible virgin-quality textile-to-textile recycled material.

The credit line is provided by EU Finance for Innovators (InnovFin), a Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme funded by the European Union.

The business has developed a method for converting waste clothes into Circulose, a pulp from which new fabric can be created, strengthening the circular economy as a concept in the fashion sector.

Renewcell will utilise the EIB financing to construct its first full-scale commercial-scale textile recycling facility at the Ortviken industrial site near Sundsvall that can produce 60,000 tonnes per year, after validating its idea.

According to the news release, Renewcell’s technology, in its effort to make the fashion sector more circular, could be a key component in meeting the EU’s waste reduction objective, as well as setting the tone for the growth of the European recycling industry.

The firm is currently scaling up to meet the rising demand for its Circulose with support from Europe and is able to offer commercial volumes of 100% textile-to-textile recycled materials.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is a long-term lending organisation owned by the EU’s member states. It provides long-term financing for solid investments that contribute to EU policy objectives.