Industry News

Collaborations and Partnerships:

UNDP and Hindustan Unilever scale plastics circularity across 50 Indian cities. The expanded partnership aims to support 50,000 waste workers by 2028, building on seven years of collaboration that has already reached 24,000 workers. Read more.

Back Market partners with Uswitch to bring refurbished phones to UK comparison platform. Back Market joins Reboxed on the service, with Uswitch introducing standardised device grading to make refurbished condition comparisons more consistent. Read more.

Nkuku selects Back.tech to optimise reverse logistics and recommerce. The UK retailer will use AI-powered grading and dynamic routing across parcel, bulky and B2B returns, targeting faster resale, redistribution and value recovery. Read more.

Company Updates:

Blue Yonder launches new agentic AI capabilities for retail returns. The technology connects returns with inventory and fulfilment, using AI-powered disposition decisions to accelerate products back into sellable stock. Read more.

SK tes processes 127m+ kg as reuse and recovery rate hits 99.82%. The global ITAD provider increased its reuse, recycling and recovery rate from 97.95%, taking cumulative material processed since 2021 to more than 565m kg. Read more.

Regional Developments:

Global secondary watch market grows 37% to $10.5bn. H1 2026 volumes reached 795,000 watches, while Rolex Certified Pre-Owned sales surged 101% to $385m, overtaking grey-market sales of new and unworn Rolex watches at $335m. Read more.

Global copper supply could fall 6.5m tonnes short of demand by 2031. UNEP highlights growing pressure on critical mineral supplies, with copper demand projected to rise more than 40% by 2040 and increased recovery from the “urban mine” forming part of the response. Read more.

US researchers develop electrically powered method to recover gold from e-waste. The University of Illinois team demonstrated gold recovery from e-waste leachates, with the process reducing chemical consumption by one to two orders of magnitude. Read more.

Investment News

M&A:

Full Circle Electronics acquires Apple refurbisher Mac of All Trades. The acquisition combines Full Circle’s enterprise ITAD and asset recovery operations with Mac of All Trades’ established refurbished Apple, resale and device buyback capabilities. Read more.

TRG acquires Reverse IT to expand European device lifecycle capabilities. The acquisition of the Netherlands-based business strengthens TRG’s Benelux operations and adds capabilities across mobile device management, enterprise mobility and repair. Read more.

Venture and Growth Capital:

Cyclic Materials raises another $75m to scale US rare earth recycling. The new financing takes total equity funding to $237m and will accelerate its South Carolina recycling campus and wider US Hub-and-Spoke infrastructure. Read more.

Voya Energy raises $35m to turn scrap aluminium into electricity. The California startup converts low-grade scrap aluminium directly into electricity using a low-temperature electrochemical process, with pilot deployments planned for 2027. Read more.

US Department of Energy selects Princeton NuEnergy for $50m battery recycling grant. The $110m Georgia project will process 3,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery manufacturing scrap annually, returning rejuvenated cathode material to battery production. Read more.

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