Sustainability
Eastman and Milliken Join the U.S. Accelerating Circularity’s Steering Committee
Accelerating Circularity, Inc. announced the addition of two new U.S. Steering Committee members, Eastman and Milliken & Company. The Steering Committee provides strategy and guidance to the U.S.-based project. Current members include Gap Inc, Giotex, Gr3n, Lenzing, Nike, Target, VF Corp., and Unifi.
The new members, who have both made investments in and commitments to the transition to circular, textile-to-textile supply systems, will support a wider range of chemical recycling options and textile manufacturing capabilities as the project moves into the trial phase. Eastman’s General Manager for Textiles, Jon Woods, says of the decision to join, “With Eastman Naia Renew cellulosic fiber, we are committed to making sustainable textiles accessible to all. We are thrilled to join Accelerating Circularity and see this collaboration as key to shaping and scaling up the recycling infrastructure needed to achieve a circular textiles industry.”
According to Chad McAllister, President, Textile Division and EVP, Milliken & Company, “We have invested in the ability to explore innovative materials through our Rapid Prototype Center. It’s perfect for validating new circular feedstocks to scale into commercial production. Joining Accelerating Circularity allows us to collaborate with a wide range of industry stakeholders with similar goals.”
Potential circular system trial feedstocks, fibers, technologies, and finished goods have been identified through extensive consultation with collectors, sorters, preprocessors, recyclers, yarn spinners, fabric mills, and brands and retailers. Collection, sorting, and preprocessing of targeted trial feedstocks will begin September 1, 2021.
Interested parties can register at www.acceleratingcircularity.org/stakeholder-registry.
About Accelerating Circularity Accelerating Circularity is a collaborative industry project developed to accelerate the textile industry’s move from linear to circular. It was founded in 2019 with a mission to establish systems that will use the embedded value and resources in existing textiles for new products, reducing the millions of tons of textile waste annually going into landfills and thereby supporting the reduction of the industry’s GHG emissions.