At last week’s 2025 Choose France Summit, President Emmanuel Macron announced the construction of a new €450 million plant in Saint-Avold, Grand Est region, to be based on the technology of Danville, Virginia-headquartered Circ.

It will be the first of its kind to recycle post-consumer and post-industrial polycotton textiles – previously considered unrecyclable – with an annual capacity of 70,000 tons once fully operational. Circ’s patented hydrothermal technology separates and recovers both the polyester and cotton – materials that make up 77% of the global textile market – from the blends.

This will be Circ’s first full-scale commercial facility and construction is scheduled to begin in late-2026, with full operations targeted for 2028, aligning with the EU’s 2030 climate goals.

“This is the moment we’ve been building towards since Circ was founded,” said the company’s president Peter Majeranowski. “Our first full-scale facility will push circular fashion over the critical tipping point, proving that the future of textiles can be decarbonised, closer to waste-free, and regenerative by design. It’s not just a major milestone for Circ, but a breakthrough for the entire circular economy at a time when the planet urgently needs scalable climate solutions.”

France’s strong industrial base, forward-leaning circularity policies, commitment to green innovation and longstanding fashion culture made it the ideal launchpad for Circ’s first plant. The company chose Saint-Avold for its strategic location, skilled workforce and robust logistics infrastructure.

World-class engineering and process firms including Andritz, GEA and Worley, will be involved in the plant’s execution, with additional facilities to be sited in North America and Asia in the coming years.

www.circ.earth