From workwear to enzymes: textile recycling innovators take top honours

The textile recycling industry celebrated its top performers with an awards ceremony at the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels.

The Textile Recycling Awards were presented by Mariska de Boer, co-owner of Dutch textile recycler Boer Group, which processes around 100 000 tonnes of textiles annually. The winners reflect growing momentum across collection, sorting, reuse and fibre-to-fibre recycling as the industry seeks solutions for mounting textile waste streams.

Europe generates an estimated 12 million tonnes of textile waste each year, while only around 20% of discarded textiles are collected for reuse or recycling. Amid a very challenging climate, event organiser AMI celebrated industry pioneers in six different categories.

The 2026 winners are:

• Retailer of the Year: Beyond Retro by Bank & Vogue (Canada/UK)
• Product of the Year: Elis (France) for its workwear-to-workwear recycling line
• Collection and Sorting: Green Worms Waste Management (India)
• Recycling Project of the Year: Circ (US) for its polycotton recycling solution
• Recycling Technology: Renasens (Sweden) for its blended-fibre recycling technology
• Rising Star: Jacob Nathan of Epoch Biodesign (UK)

High impact solutions

Elis’ winning workwear initiative addresses one of the sector’s more complex recycling challenges. Industrial workwear can contain up to 10 different materials, making recycling even more difficult. The company’s latest recycled workwear range is made from 100% recycled content, including 60% of which are textiles. Elis aims to increase recycled textiles to 80% by the end of this year.

‘Rising Star’ Jacob Nathan developed the concept behind his company’s recycling technology at the age of 18 as part of a science fair project. The process uses AI-engineered enzymes to break down materials, initially focusing on packaging waste before expanding into textile applications. It now focusses on treating nylon 6.6.

The patented process operates at room temperature and avoids conventional chemical treatments, offering a potentially lower-energy route for textile recycling.

Since launching Epoch Biodesign in 2019, Nathan has secured around EUR 10.3 million to accelerate commercialisation. In April, the company announced plans to build what it describes as the world’s largest nylon recycling facility in London.

‘Much stronger together’

After the ceremony, De Boer praised the efforts of the competitors as ‘truly exceptional’. She said they demonstrated the remarkable talent and determination of many hard-working people in the sector.

‘Every step is deeply important, from collection and sorting to transport, treatment and innovation,’ she said. ‘We are seeing meaningful improvements across all these segments. I hope we can further boost best practices by scaling up efforts, sharing know-how and collaborating more. We are much stronger together.’