Circular economy investor Closed Loop Partners (CLP) announced that several global companies have joined its new recycling and reuse infrastructure platform, Circular Services, as investors, including Microsoft, Nestlé, PepsiCo, SK Group, Starbucks and Unilever.

Closed Loop launched the platform in November 2022, with $700 million in backing from global alternative asset investor Brookfield Asset Management, and additional capital from the Partnership Fund for New York City. According to CLP, the platform was established as zero-waste goals become a top-priority for cities across North America, with the expansion of recycling and reuse services enabling municipalities and businesses to avoid landfill costs and achieve emissions reduction goals.

With the new companies joining the platform, commitments in Circular Services have reached nearly $1 billion.

Jessica Long, Chief Strategy Officer of Closed Loop Partners, said:

“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 is the largest privately held recycling company in North America, owning and operating municipal recycling facilities across the U.S., major municipal and commercial contracts to recycle and reuse paper, metal, glass, plastic, organics, textiles and electronics in states including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida, Texas and Arizona. The company owns or operates twelve facilities, several long-term municipal and commercial contracts, and has a pipeline of growth opportunities.

Several of the new investor companies have set circular economy and sustainable packaging goals, including Nestlé, which has committed to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable, and to reduce the use of virgin plastics by a third by 2025, and Starbucks, which has committed to shift away from single-use packaging and to achieve a 50% reduction in waste sent to landfill from stores and manufacturing by 2030. Starbucks also invested in CLP’s NextGen Consortium, aimed at addressing single-use food packaging waste.

Molly Fogarty, Head of Sustainability, Corporate & Government Affairs, Nestlé North America, said:

“This investment will help upgrade recycling infrastructure in the U.S. and expand the availability of recycled content, as well as bolster packaging materials collection.”

Michael Kobori, Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks added:

“This builds upon our long-standing work with Closed Loop Partners, whose NextGen Consortium has made significant strides in advancing sustainable packaging, including bringing hot cup recycling to more communities.”

Microsoft has also established targets to achieve zero waste from the company’s operations, products and packaging by 2030, and in 2020, the company announced a $30 million investment in CLP, aimed at accelerating the infrastructure, innovation and business models for supply chain digitization, e-waste collection, food waste reduction, and recycling industry products.

Brandon Middaugh, senior director, Climate Innovation Fund at Microsoft, said:

“With our third investment in the Closed Loop Partners ecosystem we look forward to being part of this new venture to build circular systems that can help our industry achieve our sustainability goals.”

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