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

Aqua Metals and 6K Energy sign multi-year deal to advance domestic battery materials supply. The partners will work together to commercialise recycled and low-carbon battery materials in the United States, linking Aqua Metals’ recycling outputs with 6K’s materials production capabilities. Read more.

Unipart is selected to support Rolls Royce’s small modular reactor programme. As a supply chain partner to Amentum, Unipart will support manufacturing, logistics and material flows across the SMR programme, enabling delivery of next-generation nuclear energy infrastructure. Read more.

Guerlain partners with circular design platform Nona Source to reuse luxury deadstock materials. The collaboration enables the brand to source surplus fabrics from across the LVMH group and transform them into limited edition creations, extending material life and reducing waste. Read more.

Selsmart and Lloyd launch Eco Exchange to drive responsible appliance upgrades. The programme lets consumers exchange old appliances of any brand for value that can be applied to new Lloyd products, while ensuring collected units are routed through compliant recycling infrastructure to keep e-waste out of landfill. Read more.

Vinted launches in the United States to expand its second-hand marketplace beyond Europe. The peer-to-peer resale platform has begun operations in New York, aiming to help American consumers unlock value from unused wardrobe items while building on its strong European presence. Read more.

Virgin Media O2 pledges 12,000 refurbished phones to help tackle digital exclusion and e-waste. The telecoms operator will donate devices sourced from customer returns and its O2 Recycle scheme to people in need, including those in temporary accommodation and survivors of abuse. Read more.

Reju selects Rochester, NY for a $390 million textile regeneration hub. The French textile-to-textile regeneration company will establish its first North American facility at Eastman Business Park, aiming to process the equivalent of hundreds of millions of garments into recycled PET feedstock. Read more.

Volkswagen’s Zwickau plant is pivoting into a circular economy hub. The site will become the Group’s centre for circular business development, standard setting and know-how sharing, with plans to systematically disassemble vehicles to recover parts and raw materials and scale to 15,000 per year by 2030. Read more.

EE integrates refurbished smartphones into its core plan portfolio. The move brings refurbished devices into standard airtime bundles, positioning reuse alongside new handsets and signalling a broader shift towards circular upgrade models in the UK mobile market. Read more.

illumynt reports 60% revenue growth and launches a global innovation centre. The ITAD provider says rising demand from hyperscalers and data-intensive enterprises drove strong 2025 performance, and the new centre will focus on advanced diagnostics, AI-driven hardware reuse and rare earth recovery capabilities. Read more.  

Borealis backs design for circularity with €49 million investment in Germany. The group is expanding its Burghausen site to scale production of Borstar Nextension polypropylene, enabling simpler mono material packaging that is easier to recycle. Read more.

HyProMag locks in a Dallas Fort Worth site to anchor US rare earth magnet recycling. The company has secured a long-term location for a flagship facility combining magnet recycling and manufacturing, strengthening domestic capability to recover and reuse critical materials. Read more.

Altimeter Solutions Group spins out to scale managed repair as a standalone business. Formerly Alacrity’s Managed Repair Division, the newly independent company has secured backing from BV Investment Partners to accelerate growth in repair networks, technology and service delivery. Read more.

Idemitsu completes construction of its first chemical recycling plant in Japan. The new facility at Ichihara is set to begin commercial operations in April 2026, processing up to 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year and producing about 14,000 tonnes of recycled oil. Read more.

Greiner Packaging’s CEO positions collaboration and design as core to circular growth. The company is pushing partners to align on material choice, recyclability and shared lifecycle outcomes as it scales recycled content and reuse pathways in packaging solutions. Read more.

Industry leaders form a new council to modernise plastics recycling in the US. The Recycling Leadership Council brings together manufacturers, recyclers and trade bodies to address infrastructure gaps and improve how plastics are collected, processed and reused nationwide. Read more.

Australia commits $25 million to launch a national solar panel recycling pilot. The federal government will fund a three year programme establishing up to 100 collection sites to divert end of life panels from landfill and recover critical materials. Read more.

Mexico hardwires circularity into law with new extended producer responsibility framework. The country has enacted a national circular economy law requiring producers and importers to take responsibility for product design, lifecycle impacts and end of life management. Read more.

University of Birmingham opens a world-leading rare earth magnet recycling facility in the West Midlands. The new centre will process end-of-life magnets from motors and generators, recovering critical materials including neodymium and praseodymium for reuse in advanced manufacturing supply chains. Read more.

University of Glasgow showcases biodegradable circuit boards using chocolate as a test substrate. The research team demonstrated zinc based boards printed on materials including chocolate to show how future electronics could safely break down at end of life, reducing e-waste through compostable design. Read more.

University of Aberdeen advances circular construction through modular steel research in Scotland. The project is developing 3D printed steel connectors that enable buildings to be assembled, adapted and disassembled for reuse at end of life, reducing waste and keeping materials in circulation. Read more.

Danish festival hits record 97% return rate for recyclable cups. At Smukfest 2025, nearly all sold cups made with high recycled content were returned for recycling into new food-grade material. The milestone shows that well-designed return schemes can drive circularity at scale. Read more.

WWF urges stronger circular economy criteria in Europe’s Industrial Accelerator Act debate. In a new briefing, the environmental group calls on EU policymakers to embed circular strategies and resource efficiency in the upcoming Act to support sustainable industrial transformation. Read more.

Circular Plastics Netherlands launches nine recycling projects backed with new funding. Backed by the National Growth Fund, the programme targets sorting and processing bottlenecks across mechanical and chemical recycling. Read more.

Assurant expands its APAC footprint with acquisition of RL Circular Operations. The US-listed protection and services group has bought TIC Group’s RL Circular Operations business to strengthen post-purchase and reverse logistics capabilities across Australia and New Zealand. Read more.

Foxway accelerates expansion with Romanian refurbishment acquisition. The circular tech group has acquired ABD to expand its Bucharest operations, increasing capacity for high quality refurbished devices and strengthening its recommerce footprint across Europe. Read more.

Canopy launches a $2 billion platform to scale recycled and alternative materials. The blended finance initiative is designed to unlock investment in next-generation fibres and feedstocks for the textiles, paper and packaging industries, reducing pressure on forests and accelerating circular supply chain growth. Read more.

LabCycle secures strategic funding to tackle lab plastic waste. The start-up, co-founded by University of Bath alumni, has closed a funding round with backing from the Angel Academe EIS Fund to scale its circular recycling solution for contaminated laboratory plastics. Read more.

PolyCycl secures Series A backing to scale chemical recycling for hard-to-recycle plastics. The deep tech start-up has raised capital from Rainmatter to accelerate industrial deployment of its chemical recycling platform that converts low-grade waste plastics into hydrocarbon oils for reuse as feedstock in new materials. Read more.

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