Netherlands Invests €135 Million in Reju to Transform Global Textile Recycling
The Hague, Wednesday 1 April 2026
With less than 1% of global textiles currently recycled, the €135 million Dutch investment in Reju will process 300 million garments annually, halving carbon emissions compared to virgin polyester.
Disrupting a Linear Model with Deep-Tech Regeneration
The global textile industry has long been constrained by a linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model, wherein less than 1% of all materials are currently recycled back into new textiles [2][3]. On 1 April 2026, the Dutch cabinet moved to actively dismantle this paradigm by allocating €135 million to Reju, a textile-to-textile regeneration enterprise [1][3]. Deployed through the National Investment Scheme for Climate Projects in Industry (NIKI), this capital will finance both the construction and operational phases of ‘Regeneration Hub One’ at the Chemelot Industrial Park in Sittard-Geleen [1][2][3].
Strategic Synergies and Industrial Decarbonisation
Reju’s technological foundation benefits from formidable corporate backing. The enterprise is owned by Technip Energies—a global engineering firm that reported a turnover of €7.2 billion in 2025 and employs over 18,000 people across 35 countries—and leverages advanced recycling technology developed by IBM Research [7]. The €135 million state grant represents a strategic co-investment equivalent to 1.875% of the parent company’s total revenue for the previous year [1][7]. Patrik Frisk, Reju’s CEO and a former executive at global brands such as Under Armour, has explicitly stated that the objective is to produce circular polyester that surpasses the quality of its virgin counterpart [2][7].
Advancing Green Hydrogen and Sustainable Chemistry
The shift towards circular textiles is inextricably linked to the wider decarbonisation of heavy industry. Technip Energies is simultaneously advancing other critical pillars of the energy transition, including green hydrogen applications and Power-to-X solutions through its joint venture, Rely [6]. Furthermore, the company possesses proprietary low-energy ammonia cracking technology designed to facilitate the transport and production of high-purity hydrogen for industrial mobility [6]. These parallel developments highlight how circular material production and clean energy vectors are coalescing to redefine industrial operations [alert! ‘Direct operational integration of Technip’s hydrogen technologies into the Reju facility is not explicitly confirmed, though the overarching corporate synergies are evident’].