Circ will co-develop a multi-phase textile-to-textile recycling plant in China with materials group Huafon, sized to process roughly 200 metric tonnes of polycotton waste per day at initial start-up.

The Danville-headquartered recycler said the facility will recover both polyester and cellulose fractions, outputting recycled purified terephthalic acid (PTA), recycled monoethylene glycol (MEG), and recycled cellulosic pulp for downstream textile manufacturing.

What is the commercial scope of the Huafon deal?

Huafon, a privately held Chinese materials producer, will host the site. The partners have not disclosed the headline investment figure, commissioning date, or offtake volumes for the China facility.

Circ framed the partnership as a feedstock-geography play. Asian garment and textile manufacturing generates the largest share of global polycotton pre-consumer waste, and locating recovery capacity closer to that waste stream lowers logistics cost per tonne of input.

Where does this leave the French project?

The China announcement lands as Circ's flagship European project slips. The company applied for environmental authorisation at its proposed French plant in August and has since filed for a construction permit.

Construction is now expected to begin in 2027 at the €450 million (US$504 million) site, with start-up pushed to late 2028 or 2029 — a delay from prior timelines that Circ has not publicly reconciled with investors.

What outputs are confirmed?

The Chinese facility's product slate is fixed at three lines:

• Recycled purified terephthalic acid (PTA)
• Recycled monoethylene glycol (MEG)
• Recycled cellulosic pulp

These outputs cover the polymer and fibre precursors used in polyester and regenerated-cellulose textile chains. Recycled PTA and MEG feed back into polyester staple and filament production. Recycled cellulosic pulp substitutes for dissolving-grade pulp in viscose, modal, and lyocell routes — a segment dominated by Asian producers.

What compliance framework applies?

Circ has not named the recycling standard or chain-of-custody certification the Huafon facility will operate under. Brands sourcing from the output will need to map claims against the EU's CSRD and ESPR disclosure regimes, and against the US FTC Green Guides for any recycled-content labelling.

The French plant sits inside EU jurisdiction and will require ISCC PLUS or equivalent certification for its outputs to qualify under the bloc's recycled-content rules for textiles, which begin phasing in through the ESPR from 2025.

What sourcing decision does this force?

For procurement teams, the Huafon joint venture signals that credible polycotton recycling capacity is becoming regionalised — Asia-Pacific for Asian feedstock, Europe for European waste streams. Buyers auditing recycled-content claims will now have to verify which Circ site produced the input rather than treating the company as a single-source supplier.

The delayed French start-up leaves European brands with a narrower near-term pipeline for EU-origin recycled polyester and cellulosics, and may push volumes toward Asia-sourced inputs until 2029.