Plastics has a problem with recycling. Only about 9% of the plastic is recycled, and the majority of its waste comes from disposable items like plastic grocery bags. It’s partly a design problem – they’re made to be thrown away. But it’s also a technology problem, as recycling such films is not easy and the results are usually not large.
Novoloop says it has developed a way to take these nasty plastics and turn them into what other companies actually want to buy.
The California-based startup recently completed a test run of a demonstration plant that continuously upcycles plastics. This plant can crank up to 70 tons of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) that can be used in anything from sneakers to car seats. Demand is getting stronger as the company prepares plans for larger facilities.
“We’re sold out. Literally, every time we make something, we’re sold out,” Miranda Wang, co-founder and CEO of NovoLoop, told TechCrunch.
Soon after the Demo Production Run, Novoloop raised a $21 million Series B, completing the design and began construction for its first commercial scale plant. The new round was led by Taranis, an investment fund owned by Oil and-Gas Company Perenco, with participation from Valo Ventures and Shop Limited.
The company does not have a site chosen for commercial-scale factories, but it aims to be built alongside existing chemical plants that may have additional land and utility available. Other companies may own and operate the facilities, with Novoloop providing process and marketing know-how.
“It can be difficult for them to come across opportunities for growth,” Wang said. “This is a way to access opportunities for growth without having to learn about the entirely different markets where you have to sell things because you are taking care of marketing, sales and technology.”
Novoloop had previously raised a $21 million Series A. This helped the company improve its process to the point of using upcycled material on the treads of Cloud Prime sneakers.
Startups’ upcycled materials are called lifecycle TPUs (thermoplastic polyurethanes) and are made by breaking down polyethylene plastic into basic building blocks called monomers. From there, new polymers are synthesized which are more valuable than the early polyethylene. The material obtained is more expensive than the virgin, but “within range,” King said.
Wang added that Novoloop’s experience with TPU led the company to another business line to mechanically recycle TPU scrap from factory floors and add a “performance enhancer” to perform like Virgin Material.
When it was time to build a demonstration plant, NovoLoop priced facilities in the US, but quickly settled in India, where the ether industry not only built the pilot plant, but also built the pilot plant. “They have a herd of plants of pilots.”
Coupled with the ability to reuse equipment from dismantled pilots, ether experience in small chemical manufacturing plants means that building and operating a NovoLoop factory is 10 times cheaper than building a small facility in the US.
“That’s an environment we don’t have here,” Wang said.
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