Worn Again Technologies
Worn Again Technologies
(
Private sector
)
#SDGAction46063
Description
Worn Again Technologies has developed a unique polymer recycling technology which separates, decontaminates, and extracts polyester and cellulose from cotton in non-reusable textiles. The dual PET and cellulose outputs can be reintroduced into supply chains to become new fibre, textiles and products as part of a continual cycle. The technology has been developed to support the shift from linear supply chains to a circular system where raw materials become circular and start replacing the use of virgin resources.
The company is currently in a pre-revenue, scale up phase, moving from lab-based developments to demonstration plant. The commercial team is London based and led by the company’s new CEO, Erik Koep. Our tech team operates from a Biocity in Nottingham, England, under the direction of our Chief Scientific Officer. We conduct industrial trials with external equipment providers and are working with our chemical engineering partner in Switzerland on the design and development of a demonstration plant which will be the focus of 2022-2023. The demo plant will provide the technical blueprint for licensing the technology to plant operators globally.
Worn Again plants will comply to the standards and certifications relevant to circular raw materials production, as required by the industry. With examples such as GRS and Cradle to Cradle. In addition, the ambition is to develop a holistic ‘circular licensing model', beyond the technological specifications, which provides a toolkit for social and environmental KPIs (for CO2 reductions, water savings and beyond), including metrics that capture how each plant is delivering against the UN SDGs and UNFCCC Fashion Climate Pact.
During the commercialisation phase, the company will work with partners on an expansion plan to achieve the vision of 40 plants by 2040. In parallel, it will continue to drive forward the collaboration necessary to prepare the marketplace - especially the advanced sorting and infrastructure evolution required in the post-consumer supply chain - for textile to textile recycling to become mainstream. This includes participating in industry working groups and with conveners, including Accelerating Circularity, WRAP’s Textiles2030, Global Fashion Agenda and Textile Exchange. We also take part in pilots and industry conferences to spread knowledge about our feedstock specification and what will be needed to supply our future plants and support the rapid expansion plan to replace the use of virgin resources. We continue to build partnerships and are starting to develop regional coalitions to support individual plants that will be ready for commercialisation from 2024-2025.
We have a Board of Directors which reports to shareholders.
The key principles of our industrial process are to ensure the outputs are cost competitive, comparable in quality to virgin materials, and have a significantly reduced environmental impact compared to conventional raw materials production. Success will be measured in tonnes of textiles saved from landfill and virgin materials replaced as well as environmental savings, compared to virgin production, such as CO2 reductions and green jobs generated.
H&M Group, Sulzer Chemtech, Oerlikon, Himes, Directex, Kering, Dibella, Sympatex, ASICS Europe. Worn Again works closely with other industry organisations and cross sectorial initiatives focused on overcoming barriers to textiles circularity and advancing the reduction of the fashion industry's impacts, including the Circular Fashion Partnership (Europe/Bangladesh), Fashion for Good (The Netherlands), Accelerating Circularity (US/Europe), Circular Fashion Eco-system (UK) and Textile Exchange (US). Worn Again is also a signatory of the UN’s Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action.
SDGS & Targets
Goal 9
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
9.1
9.1.1
Proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km of an all-season road
9.1.2
Passenger and freight volumes, by mode of transport
9.2
Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries
9.2.1
Manufacturing value added as a proportion of GDP and per capita
9.2.2
Manufacturing employment as a proportion of total employment
9.3
9.3.1
Proportion of small-scale industries in total industry value added
9.3.2
Proportion of small-scale industries with a loan or line of credit
9.4
By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities
9.4.1
CO2 emission per unit of value added
9.5
9.5.1
Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP
9.5.2
Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants
9.a
9.a.1
Total official international support (official development assistance plus other official flows) to infrastructure
9.b
9.b.1
Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added
9.c
Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020
9.c.1
Proportion of population covered by a mobile network, by technology
Goal 11
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
11.1
By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
11.1.1
Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing
11.2
11.2.1
Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
11.3
11.3.1
Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate
11.3.2
Proportion of cities with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operate regularly and democratically
11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
11.4.1
Total per capita expenditure on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by source of funding (public, private), type of heritage (cultural, natural) and level of government (national, regional, and local/municipal)
11.5
By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
11.5.1
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
11.5.2
Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global domestic product (GDP)
11.5.3
(a) Damage to critical infrastructure and (b) number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters
11.6
By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.6.1
Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal waste generated, by cities
11.6.2
Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted)
11.7
11.7.1
Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
11.7.2
Proportion of persons victim of non-sexual or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months
11.a
Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.a.1
Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development; and (c) increase local fiscal space
11.b
By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
11.b.1
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
11.b.2
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
11.c
Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials
Goal 12
Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
12.1
Implement the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, all countries taking action, with developed countries taking the lead, taking into account the development and capabilities of developing countries
12.1.1
Number of countries developing, adopting or implementing policy instruments aimed at supporting the shift to sustainable consumption and production
12.2
By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
12.2.1
Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP
12.2.2
Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP
12.3
By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
12.3.1
(a) Food loss index and (b) food waste index
12.4
By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment
12.4.1
12.4.2
(a) Hazardous waste generated per capita; and (b) proportion of hazardous waste treated, by type of treatment
12.5
By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
12.5.1
National recycling rate, tons of material recycled
12.6
Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle
12.6.1
12.7
Promote public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities
12.7.1
Number of countries implementing sustainable public procurement policies and action plans
12.8
By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
12.8.1
Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment
12.a
Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
12.a.1
Installed renewable energy-generating capacity in developing and developed countries (in watts per capita)
12.b
Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
12.b.1
Implementation of standard accounting tools to monitor the economic and environmental aspects of tourism sustainability
12.c
Rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption by removing market distortions, in accordance with national circumstances, including by restructuring taxation and phasing out those harmful subsidies, where they exist, to reflect their environmental impacts, taking fully into account the specific needs and conditions of developing countries and minimizing the possible adverse impacts on their development in a manner that protects the poor and the affected communities
12.c.1
Amount of fossil-fuel subsidies (production and consumption) per unit of GDP
SDG 14 targets covered
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Deliverables & Timeline
Commercialisation plan announcement.
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
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Timeline
Entity
Region
- Africa
- Europe
- Asia and Pacific
- North America
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- West Asia
Geographical coverage
Other beneficiaries
Brands and retailers, supply chains, users and wearers, governments, society and the environment.
More information
Countries
Contact Information
Cyndi Rhoades, Founder