On the basis of strong customer interest for Renewcell’s unique 100% recycled product Circulose®, the Board of Directors of Renewcell has decided to initiate an expansion of the company’s Renewcell 1 (Ortviken, Sundsvall) plant from 60,000 to 120,000 metric tons of total annual capacity ahead of plan. The decision does not affect the commissioning planned for mid this year for the initial 60,000 metric tons. The Board has also decided to review the company’s operational and financial goals, evaluating the opportunity to bring forward the operational goal of reaching 360,000 metric tons of annual capacity to 2025 from 2030 as was originally planned. The Board will also consider how much to increase the long term operational goal in order to strengthen Renewcell's market leading position. BNP Paribas and Carnegie have been retained by the company to explore the financing for raising the operational goals.
The large and rapidly growing impact of virgin textile fiber production and fashion waste has become a focus for consumers, NGOs, regulators, fashion brands, manufacturers and ESG investors worldwide. New market research developed by Renewcell forecasts that the baseline fashion industry demand for recycled man-made cellulosic fibers of the kind made from Circulose®, Renewcell’s unique 100% recycled dissolving pulp, will amount to around 6 million metric tons annually in 2030. With just 0.7 million metric tons of annual supply capacity, including the 360,000 metric tons from Renewcell, forecasted to come online until then, the industry will need to rely on speeding up the scaling of sustaintech innovators like Renewcell to close the gap and make fashion circular.
”The global fashion industry is committed to going circular, and we are determined to contribute as much and as fast as we can to attain this crucial goal. With demand signals from fiber and fashion brand partners soaring since the time of our IPO, we need to push ahead in Sundsvall and also raise the long term ambition”, says Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell.
”The Board views the society-wide shift to circularity and sustainability as one of the greatest value creation opportunities in history. Capturing this opportunity requires innovations that scale quickly, such as Renewcell’s unique textile-to-textile recycling process. Today’s announcement signals the Board’s strong confidence in the company’s market leading position, now and in the future.” says Mia Hemmingson, Chairman of the Board of Directors.
