It’s been a busy week! Let’s get stuck in.

Industry News

Collaborations and Partnerships 🤝:

ThredUp and Lands’ End partner to launch branded resale. The collaboration enables Lands’ End customers to send in gently worn clothing, shoes and accessories in exchange for shopping credit, powered by ThredUp’s resale platform. The programme is part of Lands’ End’s broader sustainability strategy. Read more.

CATL and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation set out a roadmap for circular EV batteries. The new whitepaper outlines actions to embed circular economy principles across the battery lifecycle, including design for circularity, regional infrastructure and new business models. Read more.

BD and Envetec demonstrate closed loop recycling for lab plastics. The partners completed a feasibility study showing regulated medical plastics can be disinfected, recycled and remade into new material for healthcare use. The pilot points to viable circular pathways for items like Petri dishes and syringes. Read more.

By Rotation teams up with Uber for rapid ski gear delivery. The peer-to-peer fashion rental platform has partnered with Uber to offer neighbourhood rentals delivered within 60 minutes, backed by a 10% delivery discount running through May 31. The service targets ski clothing where around 30% of users seek same-day pickup. Read more.

Company Updates 🔎:

Cyclic Materials plans a rare earth recycling campus in South Carolina. The $82m multi facility site will process end of life products and recover mixed rare earth oxides. The campus will support commercial scale operations and help anchor North American supply of critical materials. Read more.

IKEA expands its second hand marketplace to Sweden. The launch brings the platform live in five European countries, allowing customers to buy and sell pre owned IKEA products locally. The expansion builds on earlier rollouts across Spain, Norway, Portugal and Poland. Read more.

Ionic Rare Earths secures UK backing for a commercial magnet recycling plant. The company has received an Offer in Principle for a £12m government grant to support a rare earth magnet recycling facility in Belfast. The site is planned to process end of life and pre consumer magnets into high purity rare earth oxides. Read more.

Amazon to pay $309m after US returns refund lawsuit. The e-commerce giant agreed to settle a class action over denied or incorrect refunds going back to 2017, with $309m set aside for affected customers alongside over $600m already issued in refunds, and $363m earmarked for improving return processes. Read more.

Cylib qualifies circular lithium carbonate for new EV battery production. The recycler has completed a customer qualification project confirming its recycled lithium carbonate meets OEM performance and quality requirements. The material is now approved for use in new electric vehicle batteries. Read more.

AI helps authenticate luxury goods at The RealReal’s warehouse. The resale platform is using an AI-infused system called Athena to validate items submitted for resale. The technology supports The RealReal’s operations by analysing submitted items to discern genuine luxury products from fakes. Read more.

Circtec brings its first tyre pyrolysis plant online. Phase 1 of the new facility at the Delfzijl chemical industry cluster is now operational with capacity to recycle 50,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres annually into sustainable marine fuel, circular naphtha, pyrolysis oil and high-quality recovered carbon black. Read more.

Solvay starts production at Europe’s first bio-circular silica plant. The new facility in Livorno, Italy uses bio-based sodium silicate from rice husk ash to make highly dispersible silica, cutting CO₂ emissions by about 35% per tonne. The bio-circular output supports industrial uses while advancing local material circularity. Read more.

Tetra Pak commits €60m to pilot paper based aseptic carton barriers. The investment will fund a pilot plant in Sweden designed to replace aluminium layers in aseptic cartons with a paper based alternative. The move simplifies carton structures, increases renewable content and reduces carbon emissions. Read more.

Aduro advances toward commercial scale with Netherlands industrial facility. The chemical recycler has selected Chemelot Industrial Park to build its first industrial scale-up plant deploying Hydrochemolytic technology for waste plastics recycling, moving beyond pilot validation toward commercial operations. Read more.

UK tech retailer Laptop Outlet achieves R2 certification. The retailer has become one of a small number of UK sellers to secure R2 certification, meeting global standards for responsible electronics refurbishment covering testing, data security and environmental management. Read more.

Regional Developments 🌎️:

Global online returns exceed 10% for the 2025 holiday season. Data from Salesforce shows consumers returned about 12.2% of online orders in early January for purchases made over the holiday period, up around 3% year-on-year and accounting for more than $181bn in returned sales over the period. Read more.

UK industry backs mandatory textiles EPR. The UK Textile Pact and WRAP are calling for a legislated Extended Producer Responsibility scheme covering textiles. The proposal would introduce eco modulated fees and ring-fenced funding to support reuse and recycling infrastructure and reduce pressure on councils and charities. Read more.

Workplace recycling reforms push Wales towards its 70% target. Wales’ recycling rate has reached 68.4% following the introduction of mandatory workplace waste separation. Business recyclables collected by councils rose sharply while residual waste fell, signalling a measurable shift in commercial waste behaviour. Read more.

Investment News

M&A 💰️:

Quantum Lifecycle acquires 2NDGEAR to expand its circular technology offerings. Quantum has completed the acquisition of 2NDGEAR, bringing the US technology lifecycle solutions provider into its portfolio to broaden refurbished device solutions and end-user programmes across education and commercial markets. Read more.

Venture and Growth Capital 📈:

Raylo raises £30m and partners with LG to expand tech subscription offers. The tech rental subscription provider has closed £30m in growth funding, combining £10m in equity led by Citibank with £20m of debt, and sealed a partnership with LG to offer premium TVs and audio on subscription. Read more.

Redwood Materials closes Series E with Google backing. The funding will support expansion of the company’s battery recycling and energy storage platform as electricity demand rises from data centres, AI and electrification. The raise brings Redwood’s total Series E to $425m. Read more.

Decathlon takes a majority stake in Rebike Mobility. The move deepens an existing partnership with the German e-bike refurbishment and recommerce specialist. Rebike will continue operating independently while leveraging Decathlon’s retail footprint to expand access to refurbished e-bikes across Europe. Read more.

Cyclic Materials raises $75m to build out rare earth recycling infrastructure. The Series C round will fund new recycling facilities across the US and Europe while supporting continued development at the company’s Kingston Centre of Excellence. Read more.

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Have a great weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.

Cheers to circularity,

#TeamCircularConnect #ConnectingTheCircularEconomy