Novoloop, an advanced recycling startup based in Menlo Park, California, announced that it has raised USD11 mln in Series A funding, said Recyclingtoday.
The funding will be used to expand the company's plastic chemical recycling process, Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition (ATOD), and bring its production process to scale. Miranda Wang, co-founder and CEO of Novoloop, said: “Plastic is not going away anytime soon, so we need innovation to close the gap between what is produced and what is reused. Our technical processing capacity has expanded to tens of thousands of tons.”
The round was led by Envisioning Partners, with participation from Valo Ventures and Bemis Associates. Early investors in the round include SOSV, Mistletoe and TIME Ventures.
ATOD is a proprietary processing technology that breaks down polyethylene (PE) into chemical components that can be synthesized into high-value products, the company said. The process will be used to make Oistre, a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) used in high-performance applications such as footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive and electronics.
Oistre is the first thermoplastic polyurethane made from post-consumer polyethylene with performance characteristics that match virgin thermoplastic polyurethanes made from petrochemicals, the company said. At the same time, Oistre's carbon footprint is 46 percent smaller than conventional TPU.
Development work with Bemis will begin in March. The product will first be used on its Sewfree on Demand line by Shirley, Massachusetts-based brand consultant Bemis Associates as a possible replacement for virgin petroleum-based thermoplastic polyurethane, Wang said.
In a press release, Bemis said: “Since its founding in 2015, Novoloop has been a pioneer in chemically converting plastic waste into high-performance chemicals and materials. Through strategic investments in environmentally conscious technologies, Bemis will continue to strengthen Its leadership in sustainability and offering a wide range of environmentally friendly products to the market."
Novoloop was founded when Wang and her business partner, Jeanny Yao, were undergraduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Toronto. Before that, the duo came up with the idea to start the project after visiting a municipal waste transfer station and realizing how much material was not being recycled.
While Oistre will be one of the company's main products, Wang estimates ATOD derivatives can produce a variety of products, including various adhesives, paints and nylons. The overall market for the products Novoloop can make is more than $140 billion, Wang said.
Novoloop is working to develop relationships with material recovery agencies like GreenWaste Recovery in San Jose, Calif., to source materials used to make Oistre, she said. Novoloop and GreenWaste Recovery plan to launch a new project later this year.
Novoloop says it is currently sampling and accepting pre-orders for Oistre 65A, a soft-grade polyester thermoplastic polyurethane for injection molding, especially for footwear applications. Higher hardness grades of Oistre TPU will be available soon.
We remind, INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe, PepsiCo and Amcor have teamed up to launch new snack packaging for Sunbites crisps containing 50% recycled plastic, said the company. The new packaging was launched in the UK and Ireland for PepsiCo’s snack brand Sunbites in late 2023. The packaging is made by recycling plastic waste into food grade packaging material using an advanced recycling process.
mrchub.com