Product updates, partnership news and the latest pieces from the field notes. Coverage from the trade press shows up in the press lane.
Two industry reports describe a conversation moving away from impact at the same moment the case for impact has never been clearer. The third act this industry has not yet been offered.
Read article →Utilitarian is working with the Battery Stewardship Council Australia (BSC) on the next phase of consumer battery take-back. The partnership extends the in-store collection model beyond textiles into a new product category. Pilot scope and locations are in design.
More →At the current rate of improvement, the EU textile capture rate hits the 2030 base case ambition somewhere around 2071. We published a white paper setting out the evidence for retail take-back as the channel that closes the gap.
Read article →Why a decade of take-back scandals has trained consumers to expect the worst, and what brands, EPR schemes and the trade press can do about it.
Read article →Customer participation is the data that turns sustainability from a compliance line into a contribution line. It is missing from almost every emerging standard. Here is why that matters, and what an unlikely source did about it.
Read article →Every conversation about circularity comes back to product data. The industry is chasing perfection on the product. The real unknown is the person at home with two options in front of them.
Read article →The global circularity rate fell from 9.1% to 6.9% while industry discussion tripled. The scorecard is the problem, not the values.
Read article →Collection targets are doubling across textiles, electronics and batteries. Participation design hasn't changed. The behavioural science of incentives reveals a double ceiling most programmes cannot see.
Read article →SHEIN surveyed 15,461 consumers: 43% want physical take-back bins. Digital product passports ranked last. What this means for retailers building collection infrastructure.
Read article →A cotton recycler needs 95% purity. Syre needs polyester. Infinited Fiber needs 88% cotton. Contamination is killing textile recycling at scale, and verification is the missing piece.
Read article →Renewcell raised $200M and went bankrupt because feedstock never arrived. Billions more are flowing into recycling plants. Who is building the collection infrastructure?
Read article →Running participation is at record levels. Brands are posting record growth. But end-of-life investment hasn't kept pace. The fix is simpler than anyone thinks.
Read article →Repair matters, but for the vast majority of end-of-life products, take-back needs the investment. The energy imbalance doesn't match the scale of the problem or the opportunity.
Read article →Most retailers treat take-back as a cost. The numbers say it's one of the cheapest, highest-intent customer acquisition channels available — if you capture the data.
Read article →The fashion industry quietly absorbed the cost of destroying usable products. New EU rules don't just ban destruction; they demand evidence brands genuinely tried to prevent it.
Read article →Sustainability teams avoid commercial levers. Brands want growth-friendly sustainability. Consumers won't change without convenience. Everyone's waiting for someone else to move.
Read article →A weekly read for retail leaders, sustainability teams and EPR operators. Two minutes on what changed in EU circularity policy, retail take-back economics and the data that informs both — written by Tim Lee.
More →After a successful Runnersworld and INTERSPORT pilot, EK Retail Group has committed to a twelve-month engagement to extend Utilitarian across additional store formats.
The EU's updated Waste Framework Directive introduces Extended Producer Responsibility for textiles. If you sell clothing or footwear in the EU, you're now responsible for end-of-life.
Read article →Our in-store take-back programme is now operational at Runnersworld and INTERSPORT pilot stores across the Netherlands. The deployment includes the customer-facing scan flow, the per-product evidence layer and the merchant dashboard.
More →FashionUnited covers the launch of The Loop concept store in Eindhoven, where 22,000 recycled running shoes were transformed into store fixtures.
Read at source →Marketing Tribune reports on Runnersworld’s circular store concept and the take-back partnership with FastFeetGrinded and Utilitarian.
Read at source →RetailTrends covers the Runnersworld Eindhoven launch and circular store concept.
Read at source →Duurzaam Ondernemen reports on how 22,000 pairs of running shoes were transformed into furniture and fixtures for the new circular concept store.
Read at source →Fonk Magazine covers the circular concept store launch in Eindhoven.
Read at source →Wonen360 reports on the design and material innovation behind The Loop concept store.
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A two-minute briefing every Monday on EU circularity policy, retail take-back economics and the data behind both. Written by Tim Lee.