May 2026
Working with Battery Stewardship Council Australia on consumer battery take-back
Utilitarian is working with the
Battery Stewardship Council Australia (BSC) on the next phase of consumer battery take-back. The partnership extends the in-store collection model beyond textiles into a new product category. Pilot scope and locations are in design.
Battery Stewardship Council Australia →
The trajectory says 2071 for the EU's 2030 textile ambition. Our research sets out the case for retail take-back as the channel that closes the gap.
At the current rate of improvement, the EU textile capture rate hits the 2030 base case ambition somewhere around 2071. We published a white paper setting out the evidence for retail take-back as the channel that closes the gap.
Read article →
Once bitten… now we're scaring brands away from trying at all
Crocs has launched in-store takeback in Singapore. A pair of donated shoes turned up in a Jakarta market three years ago, freshly cleaned and reused. The disclosure framework around takeback programmes calls reuse a scandal when it was promised as recycling. Why a Digital Product Passport will not fix this, and what PROs and authorised operators can.
Read article →
April 2026
SHEIN, the Cheshire Cat, and the Data Wonderland
Customer participation is the data that turns sustainability from a compliance line into a contribution line. It is missing from almost every emerging standard. Here is why that matters, and what an unlikely source did about it.
Read article →
The bin in the home is the enemy. You cannot trace your way out of that.
Every conversation about circularity comes back to product data. The industry is chasing perfection on the product. The real unknown is the person at home with two options in front of them.
Read article →
Sustainability has been polite long enough
The global circularity rate fell from 9.1% to 6.9% while industry discussion tripled. The scorecard is the problem, not the values.
Read article →
A Third Gets Collected. The Rest Had Good Intentions.
Collection targets are doubling across textiles, electronics, and batteries. Participation design hasn't changed. The behavioural science of incentives reveals a double ceiling most programmes cannot see.
Read article →
March 2026
SHEIN's Consumer Report Holds Up a Mirror. We Should Not Look Away.
SHEIN surveyed 15,461 consumers: 43% want physical take-back bins. Digital product passports ranked last. What this means for retailers building collection infrastructure.
Read article →
All Cotton T-Shirts Are Equal. But Some Are More Equal Than Others.
A cotton recycler needs 95% purity. Syre needs polyester. Infinited Fiber needs 88% cotton. Contamination is killing textile recycling at scale, and verification is the missing piece.
Read article →
A 50,000-tonne polyester recycling plant doesn't need 50,000 tonnes of mixed textiles. It needs 50,000 tonnes of polyester.
Renewcell raised $200M and went bankrupt because feedstock never arrived. Billions more are flowing into recycling plants. Who is building the collection infrastructure?
Read article →
Running Is Booming. Sales Are Breaking Records. So Where Are Last Year's Pairs?
Running participation is at record levels. Brands are posting record growth. But end-of-life investment hasn't kept pace. The fix is simpler than anyone thinks.
Read article →
Repair Gets the Spotlight. Take-Back Gets the Leftovers. That's a Problem.
Repair matters, but for the vast majority of end-of-life products, take-back needs the investment. The energy imbalance doesn't match the scale of the problem or the opportunity.
Read article →
February 2026
The take-back counter is outperforming your paid social. You just haven't captured it yet.
Most retailers treat take-back as a cost. The numbers say it's one of the cheapest, highest-intent customer acquisition channels available, if you capture the data.
Read article →
The Economics of Waste: How Fashion Normalised Destruction, and Why Brands and Retailers Now Share the Burden
The fashion industry quietly absorbed the cost of destroying usable products. New EU rules don't just ban destruction; they demand evidence brands genuinely tried to prevent it.
Read article →
Scaling Impact Means Getting Over the Consumption Dilemma
Sustainability teams avoid commercial levers. Brands want growth-friendly sustainability. Consumers won't change without convenience. Everyone's waiting for someone else to move.
Read article →
Utilitarian launches weekly newsletter on circularity, retail, and data
Utilitarian has launched a weekly newsletter for retail, brand, and circular economy professionals. Each edition analyses a specific challenge at the intersection of product take-back, customer data, and recycling economics. The newsletter accompanies the company's weekly blog series.
January 2026
Turning In-Store Shoe Take-Back Into Customer Connection: A Case Study from the Netherlands
How a Netherlands shoe take-back pilot proved the four-stakeholder data model. From an initial five-store pilot in 2025 to an ongoing nine-store deployment producing measurable consumer-engagement data.
Read article →
EK Retail Group commit to 12-month engagement following successful pilot
Following a successful pilot across Runnersworld and INTERSPORT locations, EK Retail Group has committed to a 12-month engagement with Utilitarian. The take-back platform continues to operate across the group's Dutch sporting goods network, capturing product and customer data at the point of return.
November 2025
EU Textile EPR Is Now Law: Here's What Retailers and Brands Need to Do Next
The EU's updated Waste Framework Directive introduces Extended Producer Responsibility for textiles. If you sell clothing or footwear in the EU, you're now responsible for end-of-life.
Read article →
August 2025
Utilitarian live in first Runnersworld and Intersport stores in Europe
Utilitarian launches its in-store take-back app across Runnersworld and Intersport stores in the Netherlands, with the opening of The Loop circular concept store in Eindhoven.
Read article →
Utilitarian live in first Runnersworld and INTERSPORT stores in Europe
Utilitarian has launched its in-store take-back platform in Runnersworld and INTERSPORT stores in the Netherlands, coinciding with the opening of The Loop, a circular concept store in Runnersworld Eindhoven. Consumers returning end-of-life footwear scan a QR code, confirm product details, and receive a store reward. The platform captures brand, category, and condition data at the point of return. FastFeetGrinded (FFG) serves as the recycling partner, processing returned products into secondary raw materials.
Runnersworld opens circular store with furniture made from recycled shoes
FashionUnited covers the launch of The Loop concept store in Eindhoven, where 22,000 recycled running shoes were transformed into store fixtures.
Read at FashionUnited →
Runnersworld launches circular concept: 22,000 shoes processed into store fixtures
Marketing Tribune reports on Runnersworld's circular store concept and the take-back partnership with FastFeetGrinded and Utilitarian.
Read at Marketing Tribune →
This retailer sells running shoes and built its store from them
RetailTrends covers the Runnersworld Eindhoven launch and circular store concept.
Read at RetailTrends →
Runnersworld furnishes store with recycled running shoes
Duurzaam Ondernemen reports on how 22,000 pairs of running shoes were transformed into furniture and fixtures for the new circular concept store.
Read at Duurzaam Ondernemen →
Runnersworld furnishes store with recycled running shoes
Fonk Magazine covers the circular concept store launch in Eindhoven.
Read at Fonk Magazine →
Furniture from recycled shoes in Runnersworld's circular store
Wonen360 reports on the design and material innovation behind The Loop concept store.
Read at Wonen360 →