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

Industry News

Collaborations and Partnerships 🤝:

Unipart powers up EV battery logistics with Volklec. The partnership will streamline transport, smart storage, and testing of Volklec’s lithium-ion cells, incorporating state-of-charge monitoring and traceable “clean chain” handling to strengthen the UK’s EV supply ecosystem. Read more.

Lenovo partners with Rejoose to advance sustainable IT procurement. The collaboration embeds real-time carbon insights into Lenovo’s hardware portfolio, giving customers transparent product-level emissions data to support lower-impact purchasing and stronger sustainability reporting. Read more.

TotalEnergies and Veolia forge new circular alliance. The companies have signed an MoU to accelerate collaboration across energy transition and circular economy initiatives, including landfill methane detection, water reuse, low-carbon water treatment and desalination, and recovery of strategic materials from waste. Read more.

GXO extends partnership with Dolce & Gabbana Beauty. The deal reflects a shared commitment to sustainability and will see GXO manage inbound, outbound, returns and value-added services in a facility powered by solar energy and full LED lighting. Read more.

eBay and Global Fashion Agenda partner on circular fashion. The two organisations have entered a strategic partnership to accelerate resale, data-driven recommerce solutions, and consumer adoption of pre-loved fashion, with eBay contributing marketplace insights and resale tools to GFA’s programs. Read more.

Metallium signs MoU with Glencore for US supply and offtake. Metallium’s US arm, Flash Metals USA, has signed a framework agreement with Glencore covering electronic scrap supply and purchase of up to 75% of Metallium’s recycled output, including metals, chlorides and hydroxides. Read more.

Fashion for Good launches bio-sole push. The Amsterdam innovation platform has kicked off a 12-month project partnering with adidas, Target, Zalando, and material innovators like Algenesis, Balena, Evoco, Kuori, and Yulex to test high-performance alternatives to fossil-derived footwear compounds. Read more.

Nissan Canada teams up with Lithion on EV battery recycling. The automaker has entered a multi-year agreement with Montreal-based Lithion Technologies to recycle end-of-life EV batteries using hydrometallurgical methods, recovering up to 95% of key materials and reducing reliance on mining. Read more.

Company Updates 🔎:

Home Depot buys into reverse logistics as a value driver. Speaking at CSCMP EDGE 2025, the retailer revealed its returns network now handles nearly $1.9 billion in merchandise annually, driving $200 million in resale and recovery revenue through analytics-led liquidation and refurbishment programs. Read more.

Stellantis continues to drive automotive circularity. At Pollutec 2025, the company’s circular arm SUSTAINera and partner SOREMO announced a closed-loop program where end-of-life engines will be dismantled and key materials fed back into new engine production. Read more.

Cyclic Materials becomes first Canadian company on MIT’s Climate Tech list. The Toronto-based startup secured a spot in MIT Technology Review’s 2025 “Climate Tech Companies to Watch,” in recognition of its innovative work extracting critical minerals from e-waste to underpin circular supply chains. Read more.

LiquiDonate named one of TIME’s Best Innovations of 2025. The San Francisco–based startup was recognised for its platform that connects unsellable retail inventory with nonprofits and schools, helping retailers cut waste and support communities. Read more.

MPX embeds Phonecheck to streamline device intake. By integrating Phonecheck’s diagnostics, secure erasure, and certification directly via API, MPX automates the “goods in” process, eliminating manual uploads and creating a full audit trail from day one. Read more.

Circular Supply Chain Network’s Deborah Dull launches an AI-powered podcast. Five years after publishing her debut book on circular supply chains, Deborah has reimagined it through an AI-narrated project. The first eight episodes are now live - listen on Spotify.

Regional Updates 🌎️:

Global second-hand fashion market set to hit $360 billion by 2030. According to a new BCG report for Vestiaire Collective, the global resale market is growing at ~10% annually and is projected to expand from $220 billion today to $360 billion by 2030. Read more.

Global battery recycling market to reach $19.8 billion by 2030. A new BCC Research report forecasts the sector will grow from $12.8 billion in 2025 to nearly $20 billion by 2030, driven by surging EV adoption, stricter recycling mandates, and investment in hydrometallurgical and direct-recycling technologies. Read more.

Return project launched to mine Europe’s e-waste for critical metals. A new consortium has unveiled Return, a 36-month initiative to build a digitally enabled, chemical-based recovery system that selectively extracts high-value metals from complex e-waste streams. Read more.

38 organisations call for stronger European EPR reform. Civil society groups, cities and businesses have urged the European Commission to overhaul Extended Producer Responsibility systems so producers fund not only recycling, but also reuse, repair and waste prevention. Read more.

Philippines pilots AI-powered coconut circularity. At the 2025 World Coconut Congress, the International Labour Organization launched Digital-PINAS, an initiative using AI and circular economy models to turn coconut by-products into value chains (oil, coir, vinegar, eco-goods). Read more.

Bangladesh joins Finland, Sweden & Vietnam in digital textile-recycling alliance. Using tracing tools from Reverse Resources, 400+ factories will map fabric waste flows and link into Nordic and Vietnamese recycling networks, an effort to lift textile circularity beyond the current 5-7%. Read more.

UKFT sets 2035 goal for a circular UK textile economy. The association’s new National Textile Recycling Infrastructure Plan calls for investment in large-scale sorting, fibre-to-fibre recycling, logistics, and skills, urging government support through an EPR scheme to realise a fully circular system by 2035. Read more.

Investment News

M&A 💰️:

Assurant acquires OptoFidelity’s device testing business. The deal adds advanced automation and AI-driven diagnostics to Assurant’s technology ecosystem, enhancing speed, accuracy, and scalability across its global device trade-in, repair, and refurbishment operations. Read more.

CIRQLR expands nationwide with Sommers Waste Solutions acquisition. The deal strengthens CIRQLR’s UK footprint and boosts its recycling capacity to over one million tonnes annually, reinforcing its strategy to build a fully integrated national waste management network. Read more.

NoFraud acquires Yofi AI to take on $100 billion return fraud challenge. The e-commerce fraud leader has purchased Yofi AI, expanding its capabilities to detect return and policy abuse in real time. Read more.

Venture and Growth Capital 📈:

Möbius Industries raises $3.8 million to scale urban mining. The startup secured the pre-seed funding to advance its AI-driven “de-manufacturing” facilities, recovering high-value metals and plastics from end-of-life products to build a circular US materials economy. Read more.

Membrion secures $20 million to scale industrial water circularity. The water-tech company closed a Series B1 round to expand deployment of its ceramic desalination membranes, enabling reclamation and reuse of up to 98% of wastewater in harsh industrial settings. Read more.

Tagaddod fuels growth with $26 million Series A. The Cairo-based cleantech company will use the funding to accelerate its regional expansion and develop AI traceability tools for waste-based feedstocks used in renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. Read more.

Resourcly secures €2.7 million to unlock idle industrial inventory. The AI-powered platform helps manufacturers unify fragmented parts data, eliminate redundancies, and monetise idle stock. The investment will accelerate its mission to make manufacturing leaner, transparent, and more profitable. Read more.

Roarsome secures £1.5 million to boost sustainable kidswear. The UK outdoor children’s apparel brand, which uses recycled bottles, bamboo, and green fulfilment methods, raised new capital to expand production, scale into EU/US markets, and strengthen its operations team. Read more.

EIT RawMaterials backs Finnish circularity startup Weeefiner. Weeefiner uses 3D-printed porous filters to selectively recover critical metals from industrial wastewater, aiming to turn effluent streams into resource streams. The funding will scale the tech, refine production, and link the company to global growth networks. Read more.

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Have a great one and we’ll meet again on Monday!

Cheers to circularity,

#TeamCircularConnect #ConnectingTheCircularEconomy