Lenzing strengthens ambitions in textile recycling

Lenzing – The Lenzing Group, a world-leading provider of specialty fibers for the textile and nonwoven industries, is reinforcing its commitment to circularity by becoming a partner in the CISUTAC (Circular and Sustainable Textile and Clothing) project that is co-funded by the EU. The new consortium was established to support the transition to a circular and sustainable textile sector and, as well as Lenzing, the 27 consortium members include the industry association Euratex, textile company Inditex, PVH, Decathlon and non-governmental organization Oxfam. For its part, Lenzing is focusing on the development of recycling processes for cellulose fibers in line with its own corporate strategy.

Change is urgently required in the textile and clothing industry as it is one of the most harmful sectors to the environment, generating 40 million tonnes of waste every year. The aim of the consortium is to prevent, identify and eliminate barriers to the circularity of the clothing chain. In recent years, Lenzing has set itself the target of actively promoting circularity, reducing the consumption of resources, avoiding environmental pollution and waste, increasing value creation and resource efficiency, and mitigating the negative social impact on people. These goals have always been firmly anchored in the company’s strategy.

“At Lenzing, we work hard on a daily basis to make our industry more sustainable and promote the transformation of the textile business from a linear to a circular model. This approach is firmly anchored in our strategy and corporate values. Thus, I am delighted that as a champion of sustainability, we can also make a valuable contribution by participating in this project thanks to our commitment and the solutions we offer,” comments Stephan Sielaff, CEO of the Lenzing Group.

“Effective textile recycling is one of the most important and complex core issues facing the textile industry in the years to come. By pooling expertise and working with partners along the value chain, we can accelerate this vital process and forge ahead with finding solutions,” comments Sonja Zak, Head of Circularity Initiative at Lenzing.

CISUTAC aims to remove current bottlenecks in order to enhance textile circularity in Europe. Its goal is to minimize the sector’s total environmental impact by developing sustainable, novel and inclusive large-scale European value chains. As a pioneer of circularity, Lenzing is making crucial progress in this field thanks to its expertise.

Lenzing has been developing and promoting innovation in recycling for many years (e.g. its REFIBRA™ and Eco Cycle technology) in order to provide solutions to the problem of global textile waste. To further promote the issue of circularity, Lenzing signed a cooperation agreement with the Swedish pulp producer Södra in 2021. In the course of this collaboration, the two global market leaders will pool their knowledge and jointly develop new processes for recycling used textiles.