Making Use of Existing Value Chains: What Developments are Swedish Recycling Company Renewcell Propelling?

Renewcell was established in 2012 by a group of researchers and entrepreneurs. Under the mission of changing one of the most environmentally impactful industries by creating a circular flow of materials, we took on our business. While developing the company, we want to promote an "industry evolution" internally and provide services and inspiration for sustainable industry development externally.

The founders turned their attention to the current state where the environmental impacts from manufacturing methods and cultivation methods significantly increased as people became wealthier, the fashion market developed, and the demand for fibers increased. On the other hand, less than 1% of clothing is recycled, meaning fibers in the value chain are used only once, discarded, and then dumped or incinerated.

To be specific, the circulating cotton fibers are pure cellulose. This means that when we throw away cotton clothes, we are also discarding pure cellulose. Traditionally, cellulose is made from wood and used as a raw material for high-quality fashion fibers like viscose and lyocell fibers. The founding team, composed of cellulose chemists, successful researchers in the cellulose field, and entrepreneurs, thought that they could use the cellulose contained in cotton products to create high-quality viscose and lyocell fibers.