From waste to wardrobe: building circular textile systems in Europe’s cities – HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-04
21st November 2025 at 11:18 am
Textile waste is one of Europe’s fastest-growing environmental challenges, but it is also a valuable resource waiting to be reused. The Horizon Europe call HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-04 supports the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) by funding industrial-scale innovation actions (IAs) that design and demonstrate collection, sorting-for-reuse and repair systems for textiles. With a deadline on 17 September 2026 and a budget of €10.00 million, the call aims to reduce waste generation, engage citizens, social enterprises, local authorities and manufacturers, and build scalable, replicable solutions that empower local communities with place-based circular transitions. It supports the goals of the European Green Deal, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Circular Economy Act, the Waste Framework Directive and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) by turning municipal textile waste into a local economic opportunity while reducing environmental impact and fostering behavioural change.
1. Cities as drivers of circular textile innovation
Cities and regions are where textile waste accumulates, and where solutions can take root. This call encourages local and regional authorities to develop, test and validate innovative systems for textile collection, sorting, repair and reuse. These systems should demonstrate how municipal operators, social enterprises and small repair businesses can jointly close the textile loop.
• Align with the CCRI’s place-based innovation approach and include local and regional authorities as key partners.
• Demonstrate pilot or full-scale implementations of reuse and repair systems in real urban environments.
• Include multi-actor and gender-sensitive approaches to ensure inclusivity and social impact.
• Build on existing local circular economy strategies to enhance uptake and policy continuity.
2. Engaging citizens and communities
Circularity requires social change as much as technological innovation. Proposals should engage citizens, schools, NGOs and repair networks to foster long-term behavioural change towards sustainable textile consumption. Public participation and awareness are essential for the success of collection and reuse initiatives.
• Develop public engagement campaigns that promote reuse and repair as attractive, accessible practices.
• Create feedback mechanisms that track citizen participation and satisfaction.
• Collaborate with social enterprises and community repair hubs to ensure inclusivity and job creation.
• Integrate the expertise of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) to study social dynamics, behavioural drivers and barriers.
3. Incentivising manufacturers and businesses
To make circular systems viable, manufacturers, retailers and SMEs must have clear incentives to design durable products and provide repair services. The European Commission (EC) expects projects to stimulate new business models, promote the use of spare parts, and encourage extended guarantees to extend product lifetimes and reduce waste.
• Help manufacturers and retailers develop repair-friendly designs and spare-part provision schemes.
• Support SMEs and start-ups offering reuse and repair services through collaborative pilots.
• Propose policy recommendations or voluntary agreements to encourage producer responsibility.
• Demonstrate economic viability of circular business models through lifecycle costing analyses.
4. Leveraging data and digital tools for transparency
Digitalisation plays a key role in enabling efficient textile reuse and repair. Evaluators expect proposals to deploy digital product passports, AI-powered sorting systems, and data collection tools that improve traceability and transparency of textile waste flows.
• Develop or pilot digital product passports that record product composition and repair history.
• Use AI and sensor technologies to improve sorting precision and material identification.
• Build interoperable data-sharing systems that align with EU data governance frameworks.
• Apply FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) data principles to ensure that project data can be reused and replicated at scale.
5. Minimising waste and maximising impact
The call supports the circular systemic transition at city and region level, aiming to minimise waste generation and preserve natural resources. Successful projects will combine technology, governance and citizen participation to demonstrate measurable reductions in textile waste and emissions.
• Apply lifecycle assessment and product environmental footprint methodologies to quantify impact.
• Use pilot projects to show tangible reductions in waste and resource use.
• Integrate policy and education components to ensure long-term behavioural and systemic change.
• Link project outcomes to biodiversity and resource preservation under the European Green Deal.
6. Replication and upscaling across Europe
Replication and upscaling are essential to achieve a European impact. The EC expects projects to develop actionable recommendations for replication and to share methodologies through networks such as the CCRI Coordination and Support Office. Cooperation with other CCRI projects and regional innovation ecosystems will ensure continuity and scaling of successful solutions.
• Plan replication pathways that enable the adoption of models in other cities and regions.
• Develop open-access toolkits or guides to transfer knowledge to municipalities and SMEs.
• Ensure cross-project clustering and joint dissemination activities with CCRI-related projects.
• Identify scaling enablers such as funding instruments, policy alignment or industry partnerships.
Do you need support with writing your proposal for circular textile systems?
At accelopment, we support European consortia advancing sustainable materials, resource efficiency and collaborative innovation. Our experience includes projects such as Mat4Rail, REFINE, ViroiDoc and XoSoft, which reflect our expertise in eco-design, sustainable product development, biological innovation and social inclusion. Together, these projects demonstrate our commitment to connecting technology, policy and community-driven change for a more circular economy. With our experience in proposal writing, consortium coordination and impact communication, we help research teams design competitive and policy-relevant projects under Horizon Europe’s Cluster 6 and beyond.
Dr. Johannes Ripperger
Research & Innovation Manager
Andreia Cruz
Research & Innovation Project Manager