The textile waste collection and recycling specialist, Renewcell – one of the world’s leading companies in sustaintech – has been awarded the 2023 Nordic Council Environment Prize for its ground-breaking solution in turning old textiles into new clothing and products.

Renewcell’s product – Circulose – is currently the only virgin grade commercially recycled textile to textile material to be used on a large scale.

The Swedish company received this year’ prize at an awards ceremony for the Nordic Council prizes and was awarded by the Norwegian Crown Prince and Princess.

The 2023 Nordic Council Environment Prize was geared, this year, around celebrating the Nordics as a pioneer in the necessary transition of the textile value chain to bring circular fashion to the industry.

The committee behind the award stated that “in a situation where we must first and foremost reduce consumption as well as extend the life of textiles and introduce circular business models, Renewcell’s pioneering process for recycling and reusing textile waste to make new textiles is key to closing the cycle in the textile industry and enabling a circular fashion industry.”

Renewcell emerged the winner out of a shortlisted seven project nominated for the prize. In winning, Renewcell has secured a prize fund of DKK 300,000.

The company has already brought its Circulose technology to some of the biggest names in fasion, including Inditex Group who, last summer, signed its global fashion brand Zara for a capsule collection made with the branded material.

Circulose is a biodegradable raw material used to produce textile fibres for fashion like viscose and lyocell. Fibres produced with Circulose helps brands limit the use of virgin textile fibres, reducing the climate and environmental impact cause by raw material production and waste.