Circle-8 secures its first standalone, AI-driven, automated textiles sorting line from Danish innovation company NewRetex
- judith721
- May 1
- 3 min read
Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems has completed a pivotal acquisition of a single line sorter from Danish innovation company NewRetex, part funded by the Automatic-Sorting for Circularity and Textiles (ACT UK) project, supported by Innovate UK.
ACT UK provided support and industry collaboration to design a 25,000 tonne per annum Automated Textile Sorting & Pre-processing plant (ATSP), which, as the largest grant recipient from the project, Circle-8 is driving forward beyond the project.
The UK generates an estimated 700,000+ tonnes of non-reusable textiles every year. Currently, recycling converts less than one percent of these into new textile materials. There is a huge opportunity for the circular economy in the UK to convert what’s considered textiles waste into feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recycling, to become new polyester, cotton, wool and man-made cellulosic fibres.
Circle-8 is building a network of ATSPs designed to turn non-reusable textiles into feedstock for high volume textile recyclers, along with establishing key partnerships to drive the shift to fibre-to-fibre recycling. The NewRetex single line sorter will be the first standalone component contributing to the 25,000 tonne per year capacity, setting the standard for future developments.
“We are extremely impressed by the approach NewRetex has taken with the development of this automated textiles sorting line. It will enable a significant advance in the transition from manual to automated sorting of non-reusable textiles, laying the groundwork to support the scale up of fibre-to-fibre recycling plants for textiles and other recycling processes in the UK.”
Cyndi Rhoades, Co-founder and CEO of Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems
The NewRetex sorting line will enable high-capacity sorting and accurate classification of textiles according to:
o Material composition
o Colour
o Presence of hard parts such as buttons and zippers
Specialised software will collect data including weight and fibre composition for each piece. This data will enable tracking materials from pre-sorters through the ATSP and onto recyclers and, eventually, with Digital Product Passports.
“We are delighted to be working with C-8 to expand our innovative sorting and traceability technologies beyond Denmark. We see big potential in C-8 and their plans for the UK, and we are excited to be part of scaling textile sorting for recycling in Europe. We are impressed by their insight in the textile recycling industry and their ability to couple with brands and retailers in the UK. We look forward to following C-8 closely as they grow the UK market for automated sorting and textile-to-textile recycling."
Rikke Bech, CEO/Co-Founder NewRetex Textile Sorting and Recycling
This equipment purchase marks the next phase of ecosystem development and collaboration with UK and European partners.
Notes for editors:
Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems: The future of materials is not extraction. It’s circulation. Circle-8 is advancing the new circular textiles industry by building the ecosystem and infrastructure to unlock textile-to-textile recycling. We are driving the design, build and commissioning of a network of automated textile sorting and pre-processing facilities to turn non-reusable textiles into feedstock for fibre-to-fibre recycling processes. Our end goal is to implement industrial-scale polymer recycling plants for textiles in the UK. We are growing the partnerships needed across the textiles value chain, working to divert the UK’s estimated yearly 700,000 tonnes of non-reusable textiles away from export, landfill and incineration to make this circular future a reality.
NewRetex Textile Sorting and Recyling: Sorting for a better future. NewRetex is a Danish innovation company pioneering automated textile sorting technologies that enable high-precision classification and traceability of non-reusable textiles. Our mission is to accelerate the shift toward textile-to-textile recycling by providing advanced solutions for sorting by fiber type, color, and garment components at industrial scale. Our proprietary systems integrate AI-powered software and sensors with a fully automatic sorting line, turning waste textiles into high purity sorted fractions, ready to be recycled.
Beyond sorting, NewRetex empowers the circular economy with full data traceability through its integration-ready systems—supporting Digital Product Passports, and transparent supply chains. We actively collaborate across the value chain to build a robust circular textiles ecosystem, developing high-quality recycled fibers for spinning, yarns made from post-consumer textiles, and even finished textile products.
For further information, please contact:
• Judith Rosser-Davies, Business Development Director, Circle-8 Textile Ecosystems
• Andreas L. Enevoldsen, Production Development Engineer, NewRetex
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