From the Sector

Circ^®, a US-based textile-to-textile recycling innovator, announced the launch of Circ^®-Ready, an exclusive community of global supply-chain partners who have demonstrated their ability to make high-quality, better-for-the-planet solutions for fashion brands using Circ materials. The inaugural Circ-Ready partners include AGI Denim, Foshan Chicley Textile Co., Ltd., Giotex, Marubeni Corporation, MAS Holdings, PYRATEX®, Selenis, SHINJINTEX, Soorty Denimkind, Tainan Spinning Co., Ltd., and Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI).

The Circ-Ready community is a selected group of partners who have a proven positive track record and commitment to working with Circ recycled products and have been individually evaluated for industry success. Circ-Ready partners work alongside the Circ team of experts to adequately test and utilize Circ fibers, exceeding quality standards from end to end. To promote transparency and ensure the integrity of Circ products, each Circ-Ready partner provides a commitment to relevant best-in-class certifications for recycled products.

Consisting of processors, manufacturers, and other vital industry players across tiers 1-4, each Circ-Ready partner has undergone a testing process to replace virgin inputs with Circ’s products, proving the ability to utilize Circ products in their existing operations and produce premium materials as a result. Being a member of the Circ-Ready community provides partners the opportunity to work with pilot-stage Circ products, receive ongoing support from Circ’s technical experts, and be among the first recommended by Circ when brands and partners seek to utilize Circ material.

Circ is a leader in blended textile-to-textile recycling, a known challenge for the industry. Each year, tens of millions of tons of polycotton textile waste is landfilled or burned because existing recycling solutions cannot separate the plastic from the natural fiber and recover both materials. Circ’s innovative recycling technology is the only platform to successfully separate polycotton blended textile waste and recover both cellulosic and synthetic fibers. Circ’s primary fiber outputs are regenerated Circ Lyocell and Circ Polyester from textile waste.

The winners of the prestigious Innovation Award for Fibre-Reinforced Plastics of the AVK, the German Federation of Reinforced Plastics, were presented in Salzburg this year. This award always goes to businesses, institutions and their partners for outstanding innovations in composites the three categories Products & Applications, Processes & Methods and Research & Science. Projects are submitted in all three categories and are evaluated by a jury of experts in engineering and science as well as trade journalists, who look at each project in terms of their levels of innovation, implementation and sustainability.

Products & Applications category
First place: “Insulating Coupling Shaft for Rail Vehicles” – Leichtbauzentrum Sachsen GmbH, partner: KWD Kupplungswerk Dresden GmbH

Second place: “Electric Car Battery Housing Components Based on Innovative Continuous Fibre-Reinforced Phenolic Resin Composites” – SGL Carbon

Third place: “High Performance Recycled Carbon Fibre Materials (HiPeR)” – Composites Technology Center GmbH (CTC GmbH), partners: Faserinstitut Bremen e. V, Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V., C.A.R. FiberTec GmbH; partners Japan: Faserinstitut Bremen e.V., Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V., C.A.R. FiberTec GmbH; Partner Japan: CFRI Carbon Fiber Recycle Industry Co., Ltd., IHI Logistics and Machinery Corporation, ICC Kanazawa Institute of Technology

Innovative Processes & Methods category
First place: “Chopped Fibre Direct Processing (CFP)” – KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH, partner: Wirthwein SE

Second place: “CIRC - Complete Inhouse Recycling of Thermoplastic Compounds” – Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation (IPA), partners: Schindler Handhabetechnik GmbH, Vision & Control GmbH

Third place: “CarboScreen – Sensor-Based Monitoring of Carbon-Fibre Production” – CarboScreen GmbH, partner: Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University

Research & Science category
First place: “Development of a Stereocomplex PLA Blend on a Pilot Plant Scale” – Faserinstitut Bremen e. V.

Second place: “Fibre-Reinforced Salt as a Robust Lost Core Material” – Technical University of Munich, Chair of Carbon Composites, partners: Apppex GmbH, Haas Metallguss GmbH

Third place: “VliesSMC – Recycled Carbon Fibres with a Second Life in the SMC Process” – Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI), partner: Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT)

Entries for the next Innovation Award 2024 can be submitted from January 2024 onwards.