Closed Loop Partners (CLP), a circular economy investor, announced that Microsoft, Nestlé, PepsiCo, SK Group, Starbucks, and Unilever have joined its new recycling and reuse infrastructure platform, Circular Services, as investors.
Closed Loop will deploy the platform in November 2022, backed by $700 million from global alternative asset investor Brookfield Asset Management and an additional Partnership Fund for New York City funding. According to CLP, the platform was created as zero-waste goals became a primary focus for cities across North America. The rise of recycling and reuse services allowed municipalities and businesses to avoid landfill expenses and meet emissions reduction targets.
Circular Services is the US’s largest privately held recycling company, specialising in packaging, organics, textiles, and electronics. It owns and manages facilities across the United States and aims to help municipalities and businesses save hundreds of billions of dollars in garbage disposal costs by ensuring that useful commodities are recycled and reused in domestic supply chains. Companies investing in Circular Services, all committed to furthering the circular economy, are proving the power of collaboration and focused investments to expedite the transition from a linear to a circular economy.
Circular Services’ emphasis on packaging as a primary material for recovery stems from an increasing demand to boost packaging recovery rates. Today, recovery rates for packaging and food-service plastics are reported to be as low as 28% in the United States.
In addition to focusing on package recovery, companies investing in Circular Services are bolstering efforts to recover electronic waste, one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. Around six billion mobile phones are currently in circulation in the global economy. Despite this, less than 20% of electronics are collected, refurbished, or recycled globally, resulting in a loss of more than $50 billion per year.
“Expanding access to recycling and reuse services will enable cities and businesses to avoid the cost of landfilling products and packaging and achieve their sustainability goals. Circular Services continues its work to accelerate a circular economy, an economic system that invests in the continual use of materials, reduces the reliance on natural resource extraction and landfills, and advances a waste-free future”, said Jessica Long, Chief Strategy Officer of Closed Loop Partners.