Our Newly Appointed CEO on What's Next for CelluCircle

Q1. Congratulations, Vera! How does it feel to now be stepping into the role of CEO, while continuing as CTO at CelluCircle?

Thanks for the excitement! I am also very excited to step into the CEO role, as it gives me the opportunity to shape the company’s scale-up strategy and commercialisation plan.  It is also a big responsibility to become CEO at such a critical stage, which could be vital for CelluCircle’s future.  At the moment, I feel more secure having both the CEO and CTO roles, as I can align our overall strategy closely with the progress of R&D across both process and product development.

Q2. What excites you most about taking on this new leadership role, and how do you see it shaping the company’s next chapter?

What excites me most is that with a new role comes new learning, it makes every day more creative and dynamic.  Throughout my life I’ve had the opportunity to change topics and roles, which has increased my adaptability without compromising outcomes.  I also enjoy working closely with everyone in the company, and through this role I hope to further strengthen the links between process development, product design, sales strategy, business planning, and financial growth.  In small companies, fast feedback and strong collaboration are essential for rapid development and scale-up.

Q3. CelluCircle has already made big strides. What do you see as the biggest opportunities ahead for the business and for textile recycling more broadly?

Textile recycling is a very hot topic right now due to new regulations and the challenge of finding universal solutions.  CelluCircle has a very promising technology for blended textile waste, and we are at the right moment in time.  Our biggest challenge is to move toward commercialisation quickly, but not hastily.  The new regulations open the door for progress, but we need to ensure steady development, financial balance, and strong customer agreements.

Q4. Every industry comes with challenges. What do you think will be the toughest barriers to overcome in scaling textile recycling, and how can CelluCircle help tackle them?

One of the toughest barriers to scale is feedstock tolerance, both in terms of composition and form (e.g. fabric pieces, shredded fibre, etc.), as well as the harsh conditions often required to separate textiles.  Market demand is another key factor. CelluCircle offers broad feedstock tolerance in both form and composition, and uses mild process conditions, which helps keep our environmental footprint relatively low. Furthermore, our process includes textile-to-textile recycling and other high-value material outputs, making us versatile and flexible.  We also target multiple markets, allowing us to adjust product volumes based on demand.  However, this does not mean other initiatives aren’t needed, the volume of textile waste is so large that there is room for many solutions.

Q5. Looking ahead, where do you envision CelluCircle in 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years?

CelluCircle has great potential.  If we make the right moves in product optimisation, sales planning, customer agreements, and funding, then in 2 years we will have a fully operating pilot and be ready to deploy our first production unit.  In 5 years, we expect to have a functional production unit and several replication units either deployed or in planning.  In 10 years, I expect we will have reached full-scale capacity, including both owned and licensed plants.
To achieve this will require hard work, and a bit of luck. As we say in Greek: “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” In other words, success comes to those who take initiative and put in the effort, rather than waiting for external help.