Image: Example of small scale materials recovery facility: Revolution Recycling at Twin, Steamboat Springs, CO

PURCHASE, N.Y., January 20, 2022 – PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) announced today a $35 million investment with Closed Loop Partners that will create the “Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund,” an innovative circular economy initiative to advance new small-scale, modular recycling systems in communities across the U.S.  The fund aims to increase recycling in areas with no or limited access to recycling, reducing waste and unlocking a new supply of recycled plastic (rPET), among other valuable materials, to support PepsiCo’s pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) sustainable packaging goals.

“As companies – including PepsiCo – set ambitious goals to use more recycled content in their packaging, there is more need than ever for partnerships and investments to increase recycling in the U.S. We need to develop the infrastructure that makes recycling available to more Americans so we can recover the high-quality material that can be used in our packaging,” said Jason Blake, Chief Sustainability Officer and SVP at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “Through pep+, our end-to-end strategic transformation, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. As the exclusive investor in the Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund, we are actively driving the changes needed to transform the US recycling system and move towards a circular economy.”

Closed Loop Partners will use the investment to deploy small-scale modular Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in underserved communities that currently lack access to larger municipal MRFs. This gap in access is typically due to a lack of funding or geographic proximity to facilities that process the materials. The smaller, local MRFs lay the groundwork for the future of recycling, introducing a new way to meet and adapt to the various needs of communities across the U.S. These modular recycling systems are smaller and less capital intensive than traditional large-scale recycling facilities, reducing the need for the costly transportation of recycled materials to larger MRFs outside of the area. The small-scale MRFs will help recapture valuable recyclables––paper, plastic, glass, and metals––reducing waste sent to landfill and unlocking a new supply of recycled materials. Each individual system creates the capacity to recycle at least 8,000 tons per year of materials, including keeping 400 tons of rPET in circulation every year. They are also expected to yield higher quality plastic while also reducing the costs and greenhouse gas emissions  associated with the longer distance transportation of the materials.

This investment reinforces PepsiCo’s desire to create a world where packaging never becomes waste and to increase recycling rates in the United States. It aims to support PepsiCo’s goal to cut virgin plastic from non-renewable sources across our food and beverage portfolios by 50% by 2030.

“This first-of-a-kind investment from PepsiCo ushers in a new future for local recycling, empowering communities across rural America and small cities to reduce waste and harness the value of their recycled commodities,” says Ron Gonen, Founder & CEO of Closed Loop Partners. “By closing the loop on these commodities, which can then re-enter local manufacturing supply chains, we are better equipping communities with the tools needed for resilience against a globally changing climate, while also creating new revenue opportunities and jobs. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with PepsiCo to build and strengthen circular supply chains.”

This announcement comes on the heels of a $15 million PBNA investment in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund, a private equity fund that seeks to acquire and grow companies, including those in the packaging value chain, to strengthen recycling infrastructure and build circular supply chains that keep materials out of landfills. These investments are part of a long history of PepsiCo partnering with Closed Loop Partners to make strides on material recovery and infrastructure advancements:

• In 2021, PepsiCo became a founding partner of Closed Loop Partners’ Composting Consortium, managed by their Center for the Circular Economy. The Consortium brings together leading voices in the composting ecosystem in the United States to identify the best path forward and pilot industry-wide solutions to increase the recovery of compostable food packaging and drive toward circular outcomes.
• In 2014, PepsiCo became a founding member of the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund, which has provided investments that cities, counties, and businesses in the U.S. use to take the steps necessary to move recycling to the next level, including new trucks for pick-up/hauling and cutting-edge technology to make materials recovery facilities work more efficiently.
• Through American Beverage’s Every Bottle Back Initiative, PepsiCo is an investor in Closed Loop Partners’ Beverage Fund, which seeks to improve the collection of the industry’s valuable plastic bottles so they can be made into new bottles using rPET. This fund partners with other beverage companies, as well as nonprofits and NGOs like The Recycling Partnership and WWF to reduce their plastic footprints, improve recycling access, provide education to residents, and modernize recycling infrastructure in communities across the country.

As the Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund begins investing in community recycling, municipalities across the U.S., as well as local haulers, can reach out to Closed Loop Partners if they are interested in exploring a small-scale, modular MRF in their community.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $70 billion in net revenue in 2020, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker, Tropicana, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose. “Winning with Purpose” reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of our business strategy and brands. For more information, visit pepsico.com.

About the Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund at Closed Loop Partners

The Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund is a circular economy initiative managed by Closed Loop Partners and funded by PepsiCo, aiming to finance and deploy small-scale, modular Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to increase recycling in communities with no or limited access to recycling, reduce waste and unlock a new supply of recycled plastic. Closed Loop Partners is a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity, project-based finance and an innovation center focused on building the circular economy. The firm’s business verticals build upon one another, bridging gaps and fostering synergies to scale the circular economy.

To learn about the Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund, visit Closed Loop Partners’ website.

PepsiCo Cautionary Statement

This release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identified through the inclusion of words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “drive,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “strategy,” “target” and “will” or similar statements or variations of such terms and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such statements, including future demand for PepsiCo’s products; damage to PepsiCo’s reputation or brand image; political or social conditions in the markets where PepsiCo’s products are made, manufactured, distributed or sold; climate change or measures to address climate change; changes in laws and regulations related to the use or disposal of plastics or other packaging of PepsiCo’s products; failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations; and potential liabilities and costs from litigation, claims, legal or regulatory proceedings, inquiries or investigations. For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo’s actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Disclaimer:

This publication is for informational purposes only, and nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any interest in any investment vehicle managed by Closed Loop Capital Management or any company in which Closed Loop Capital Management or its affiliates have invested. An offer or solicitation will be made only through a final private placement memorandum, subscription agreement and other related documents with respect to a particular investment opportunity and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such documents, including the qualifications necessary to become an investor. Closed Loop Capital Management does not utilize its website to provide investment or other advice, and nothing contained herein constitutes a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto. Information provided reflects Closed Loop Capital Management’s views as of a particular time and are subject to change without notice. You should obtain relevant and specific professional advice before making any investment decision. Certain information on this Website may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties and speak only as of the date on which they are made. The words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “optimistic”, “intend”, “aim”, “will” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Closed Loop Capital Management undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Past performance is not indicative of future results; no representation is being made that any investment or transaction will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those achieved in the past, or that significant losses will be avoided.

[Press release originally published here] PURCHASE, N.Y., December 14, 2021 – PepsiCo Beverages North America announced today a $15 million investment in Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund, a private equity fund that acquires and grows companies, including in the packaging value chain, to strengthen recycling infrastructure and build circular supply chains that keep materials out of landfills.

“The recycling landscape in America continues to be challenging, and as companies – including PepsiCo – set ambitious goals to use more recycled content in their packaging, there is more need than ever for partnerships and action to increase access to recycled material,” said Jason Blake, Chief Sustainability Officer and SVP at PepsiCo Beverages North America. “Through PepsiCo Positive, our end-to-end strategic transformation agenda, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. We are honored to expand our partnership with Closed Loop Partners through this investment to advocate for and advance the necessary work that is being done to transform the recycling system.”

“Demand for recycled materials in packaging is growing at an unprecedented rate, signaling an opportunity for greater investment in the recycling infrastructure that keeps these commodities in play. At Closed Loop Partners, we are committed to strengthening the circular systems that make this possible,” says Ron Gonen, Founder & CEO of Closed Loop Partners. “PepsiCo’s investment in the Closed Loop Leadership Fund builds on its existing partnership with our firm, setting a clear path forward for the food and beverage industry to advance circular supply chains for packaging. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with PepsiCo and the beverage industry in building a more waste-free world.”

This investment reinforces PepsiCo’s desire to create a world where packaging never becomes waste and the company’s plans to increase recycling rates in the United States, while simultaneously unlocking access to incremental recycled plastic supply. It aims to help propel progress against PepsiCo’s target to cut virgin plastic from non-renewable sources across our food and beverage portfolios by 50% by 2030. In the U.S., all Pepsi-branded products are expected to be converted to 100% rPET bottles by 2030, with Pepsi Zero Sugar beginning to be sold in 100% rPET bottles by 2022. As shared in the 2020 Sustainability Report, PepsiCo reported that 87% of its packaging is recyclable, compostable, or biodegradable and this investment with Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund will only help to drive even more collection of these valuable materials for use in our packaging.

PepsiCo has a long history of partnering with Closed Loop Partners to make strides on material recovery and infrastructure advancements:

• In 2014, PepsiCo became a founding member of the Closed Loop Fund, now known as the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund, which has provided investments that cities, counties, and businesses in the U.S. use to take the steps necessary to move recycling to the next level, including new trucks for pick-up/hauling and cutting-edge technology to make materials recovery facilities work more efficiently.
• Through American Beverage’s Every Bottle Back Initiative, PepsiCo is an investor in the Closed Loop Partners’ Beverage Fund, which seeks to improve the collection of the industry’s valuable plastic bottles so they can be made into new bottles using rPET. This fund partners with other beverage companies, as well as nonprofits and NGOs like The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund to reduce their plastic footprints, improve recycling access, provide education to residents, and modernize recycling infrastructure in communities across the country.
• In 2021, PepsiCo became a founding partner of Closed Loop Partners’ Composting Consortium, which brings together leading voices in the composting ecosystem in the United States to identify the best path forward to increase the recovery of compostable food packaging and drive toward circular outcomes.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $70 billion in net revenue in 2020, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker, Tropicana, and SodaStream. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose. “Winning with Purpose” reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of our business strategy and brands. For more information, visit pepsico.com.

About the Closed Loop Leadership Fund at Closed Loop Partners
The Closed Loop Leadership Fund is Closed Loop Partners’ private equity fund, focused on acquiring best-in-class circular business models that are fundamental to keeping plastics and packaging, food and organics, electronics and textiles out of landfills and within a circular system. Closed Loop Partners is a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity, project-based finance and an innovation center focused on building the circular economy. The firm’s business verticals build upon one another, bridging gaps and fostering synergies to scale the circular economy.

To learn about the Closed Loop Leadership Fund, visit Closed Loop Partners’ website.

PepsiCo Cautionary Statement

This release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally identified through the inclusion of words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “drive,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “strategy,” “target” and “will” or similar statements or variations of such terms and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such statements, including future demand for PepsiCo’s products; damage to PepsiCo’s reputation or brand image; political or social conditions in the markets where PepsiCo’s products are made, manufactured, distributed or sold; climate change or measures to address climate change; changes in laws and regulations related to the use or disposal of

plastics or other packaging of PepsiCo’s products; failure to comply with applicable laws and

regulations; and potential liabilities and costs from litigation, claims, legal or regulatory proceedings, inquiries or investigations. For additional information on these and other factors that could cause PepsiCo’s actual results to materially differ from those set forth herein, please see PepsiCo’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. PepsiCo undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2021 — Closed Loop Partners’ venture capital group––the Closed Loop Ventures Group––announced the successful close of its second fund, surpassing its $50 million target to scale breakthrough circular economy solutions across plastics & packaging, fashion, food & agriculture, and supply chain technology. The firm continues its pioneering position as a dedicated circular economy-focused capital provider, investing in sustainable and profitable solutions that reduce waste, increase operational and material efficiency, and protect the planet.

Closed Loop Partners’ second venture capital fund, Closed Loop Venture Fund II, is driven by the success of its Fund I. The strategy of both funds capitalizes on the growing need to shift away from inefficient, linear and extractive supply chains and toward healthier, waste-free circular systems. The Closed Loop Venture Fund II is strategically positioned within the firm’s broader ecosystem that includes growth equity, private equity and project-based finance, as well as the Center for the Circular Economy. The Ventures Group benefits from a broad range of investors including multinational corporations like Microsoft and GS Group, foundations like the Autodesk Foundation, and single and multi-family offices from across the United States, Asia and Israel.

“At Microsoft, we’re advancing a more sustainable and resilient way of producing and consuming products and services. The breakthrough solutions that the Closed Loop Ventures Group invests in help pave the way toward a more circular future, one that aligns with our vision of a zero waste world,” says Brandon Middaugh of Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, an investor in Closed Loop Partners’ funds. “Our investment in the Ventures Group’s Fund II is a key part of our efforts toward our 2030 zero waste goals, driven by the innovators and emerging companies that help make this possible.”

“Venture capital plays a key role in accelerating the circular economy, seeding the next generation of solutions to overcome legacy take-make-waste systems, encourage innovation and help transformative companies scale,” says Taehong Huh, Managing Director of GS Futures, corporate venture arm of GS Group of Korea. “The Closed Loop Ventures Group is blazing a trail for some of the most innovative circular solutions in the market today, and we are proud to be investors in the Closed Loop Venture Fund II––supporting companies that advance the circular shift of our economic system.”

“The need for solutions that advance the circular economy is coming into focus, and investment is key to scaling their impact. Closed Loop Partners’ venture capital team continues to be at the forefront of this work, supporting founders and businesses that are transforming our systems and supply chains for the better,” says Jennifer Kenning, CEO and Co-founder of Align Impact. “Our partnership with the Closed Loop Ventures Group is mission-critical to our work, advancing investments that have massive positive outcomes for people and our planet.”

“Our support of Closed Loop Partners’ venture funds has been a key part of our work to transition our markets to a full circular economy model by investing in the technologies and solutions that overcome barriers to change,” says Joe Speicher, Executive Director of the Autodesk Foundation and Head of Sustainability at Autodesk. As the philanthropic arm of Autodesk Inc., the Autodesk Foundation was an investor in Closed Loop Partners’ first and second venture funds. “We are proud to have been an early investor of the Closed Loop Ventures Group and are doubling down on our commitment to help scale the emerging design and manufacturing approaches that make end to end circularity possible.”

Led by Danielle Joseph, Managing Director at Closed Loop Partners, Closed Loop Ventures Group demonstrates that builder capital with a hands-on, active approach to building the Circular Economy is what many of the most ambitious entrepreneurs are seeking. The dedicated team brings a combined skill set of entrepreneurial, operating and investing expertise. “Closed Loop Ventures Group enables Closed Loop Partners to activate the most innovative solutions emerging in the circular economy and provide those solutions the full support of the Closed Loop Partners network,” says Ron Gonen, Founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners.

“The Closed Loop Partners team is unique in the venture capital space, proactively bringing to the table their extensive operating experience, network, and strategic expertise on the circular economy,” says Rich Mokuolu, Co-founder & CEO of Partsimony. “We are proud to be among the first portfolio companies of Closed Loop Venture Fund II and we look forward to the continued growth spurred by their investment, as we expand Partsimony’s reach to build more intelligent, resilient, and local supply chains.”

To date, the Closed Loop Venture Fund II has invested in solutions including Partsimony, ucrop.it and dimpora––investments that span supply chain technology, food & agriculture and fashion. Partsimony‘s SaaS network unifies disparate data to help product designers manufacture more locally and with more sustainable materials. ucrop.it operates a collaborative traceability platform that connects farmers to stakeholders across the agriculture value chain, incentivizing supply chain transparency, best agricultural practices and greater value sharing to advance sustainable agriculture on a global scale. dimpora develops sustainable and PFC-free non-harmful membranes to waterproof clothing, to reduce waste and chemicals from apparel production.

“The successful raise of Closed Loop Partners’ second venture fund signals the increasing understanding that circular supply chains represent the future of industry and materials. We are seeing more founders building businesses in the circular economy, and a growing need for early-stage capital,” says Danielle Joseph, Managing Director of the Closed Loop Ventures Group at Closed Loop Partners. “We look forward to collaborating with the broader venture capital community, fostering transparency and open insight sharing to advance breakthrough innovations.”

Across its investments, the Closed Loop Ventures Group sees transparency and digitization as critical tools in building the supply chains of the future, and will continue to support cutting-edge innovations that reimagine and redesign current systems, driven by data and scientific input. They are focused on furthering localized and distributed manufacturing to build resiliency, and accelerating recovery & reuse to reduce a reliance on volatile commodity prices tied to limited virgin resources. Building on its robust thought leadership, the venture capital team at Closed Loop Partners continues to develop its theses on where they want to see additional investment activity and other smart investors participating in the space, including around markets that are misunderstood in traditional venture capital investing––such as biopolymers as plastic alternatives and evolving molecular recycling technologies.

About the Closed Loop Ventures Group at Closed Loop Partners
Closed Loop Partners’ venture capital arm launched in 2017 with one of the first venture funds dedicated solely to investing in early-stage companies developing breakthrough solutions for the circular economy. The Closed Loop Ventures Group targets leading innovations in material science, robotics, agritech, sustainable consumer products and advanced technologies that further the circular economy.

The Closed Loop Venture Fund II builds on the venture capital group’s first fund’s strategy, supported by an existing portfolio with strong financial performance, coupled with robust environmental and social impact. HomeBiogas, one of the early investments of the Closed Loop Venture Fund I is a leader in developing biogas systems that transform organic waste into clean energy and bio-fertilizer. They announced their $94 million initial public offering (IPO) in Israel in 2021, accelerating the company’s growth into additional markets, including North America. To date, the company has sold over 10,000 systems in more than 100 countries. Algramo, another investment of Fund I, developed a reuse system powered by vending machines that dispense household products into smart reusable packaging. With the investment and support of Closed Loop Partners, the Chile-based company expanded into North America, now piloting their reuse systems in New York City, while also having piloted with leading brands such as Walmart and Unilever in other geographies. Learn more about the Closed Loop Ventures Group here.

About Closed Loop Partners
Closed Loop Partners is a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity, project-based finance, and an innovation center focused on building the circular economy. Investors include many of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and family offices interested in investments that provide strong financial returns and tangible impact. Learn more at www.closedlooppartners.com.

Autodesk, the Autodesk logo, and Autodesk Foundation are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

Now, Toyota may be doing better than its competitors while a global chip shortage costs the automotive industry upwards of $110 billion in car sales. However, more industries are recognizing the limitations of a just-in-time strategy applied broadly to every component part and raw material across globalized supply chains.

As unforeseen disruptions increase — whether the COVID-19 pandemic or climate-related natural disasters — and as more products demand critical, limited resources, intense fluctuations in demand, labor shortages, inadequate equipment and physically damaged facilities contribute to an instability of manufacturing capacity. Underdeveloped manufacturing capacity leaves industries exposed to risk, price volatility, market dislocations and lost value.

Unfortunately, first-mile stakeholders in the supply chain are often most at risk of losing value in the face of disruptions. For example, demand for lumber sharply increased when homeowners sought to remodel and build new houses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, U.S. sawmills (largely Canadian-owned) had to shut down over 40 percent of their capacity during this same time period. Yet forestry growers — producing timber that becomes lumber — suffered in a buyer’s market and saw prices for timber remain low: When adjusted for inflation, timber prices are at their lowest over the past 50 years.

While the market has since recalibrated and the lumber bubble may be just one instance in which supply was ill-prepared to manage demand, the whole of today’s U.S. manufacturing is just 11 percent of GDP — near its lowest in over 70 years. Underdeveloped manufacturing capabilities from generations of regional specialization pose significant risk to meeting demand and climate goals. U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm recently wrote: “We have weak domestic supply chains for technologies critical to our economic and national security… China is the only country with control over every tier of the supply chain for critical materials like the lithium we need for vehicle batteries, including 80 percent of raw material refining capacity… Other countries, especially China, produced 85 percent of transformers for our electric grid — while America still produces almost none.”

The automotive, energy and tech industries must contend with critical rare earth metal supply chains needed for everything from batteries to solar panels. These products are reliant on limited resources, often harmfully extracted from biodiverse regions fraught with social inequities. The ability to (re)manufacture and recycle these raw materials efficiently and locally is critical to business continuity in an increasingly resource-constrained world.

The time is now: Advances in automation and machine learning, rising pay globally and increasing risk from supply chain disruptions suggest that onshoring manufacturing is increasingly attractive to many product producers. Against this backdrop, what do resilient and circular supply chains look like? Supply chain managers are finding the right instances to:

1. Create visibility into manufacturing supply chains to better prepare for and manage risk
2. Produce with distributed, more regionally resilient supply networks
3. Source feedstocks locally and from more available recycled content

Smart entrepreneurs are seizing the moment to build more resilient, circular supply chains. Partsimony, a company dedicated to building cognitive supply chains and increasing efficiencies, closed a $2 million seed round led by Closed Loop Partners’ Ventures Group with participation from Contour Ventures, Urban Us and other top institutional and angel investors. Partsimony applies machine learning to build a predictive and dynamic manufacturing market network, helping solve for the manufacturer discovery and price quoting process for complex hardware companies — which can be an opaque, manual and excel-based process today for both the hardware company and the manufacturer. Partsimony provides hardware companies with a better, real-time understanding of their manufacturers’ capabilities and pricing, helping them iterate and commercialize products faster and with increasingly distributed supply chains. Partsimony also supports the manufacturer by serving as a qualified lead generation platform to acquire customers whose products match technical capacity (production methods and volumes) and help manufacturers maximize margin.

Partsimony’s platform demonstrates how increased transparency and intelligence across supply chains can ultimately benefit business, people and the planet through three core activities:

Digitizing supplier relationships creates transparency

When supply chain disruptions happen, hardware companies need better control over their production and transparency into their suppliers to adapt quickly. Case in point: Toyota knew to safeguard its chip supply because of the company’s “no black box” approach, only adopting technologies it truly understands, down to the gases and the metals of each component. This supply chain visibility — down to the material level — is a critical driver of resiliency, and we invested in Partsimony because its platform helps enable this kind of visibility.

Distributed manufacturing supply chains shorten lead times

Adopting a distributed manufacturer network of on-shore manufacturing within existing off-shore manufacturing supply chain networks is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage. This is not about an America-first dogma; on-shoring of manufacturing helps regionalize the production for any supply chain. Doing so shortens lead times and helps diversify the supplier base. Distributed manufacturer networks are primarily about developing resilient and sustainable business practices, with the added benefit of reducing emissions associated with the international transportation of raw materials and finished component parts. Working with customers such as Stanley Black & Decker, Partsimony has demonstrated 96 percent cost reductions and 83 percent lead time reductions.

Data-driven recommendations can leverage engineering insights and incentivize use of recycled content

Design and material selection have an outsized impact on the circular impact of products. A poorly designed product may choose hard-to-recycle and fossil fuel-based materials in formats where the materials are intermingled and difficult to separate for recovery — a product William McDonough would call a “monstrous hybrid.” Now, Partsimony’s AI supports hardware companies in testing novel, more sustainable materials and alternative manufacturing methods in products from the very first point of design. Engineers upload their digital designs or CAD files to the platform, and Partsimony is building its AI to read the structural requirements of the component part and potentially recommend materials from recycled content, as well as alternative manufacturing solutions.

Digital visibility, distributed manufacturer networks and data-driven infrastructures are the circular antidotes to today’s analog and fragile supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the first black-swan event within this century, and it most certainly will not be the last. Climate-related disasters will continue to upset business-as-usual, just-in-time production and manufacturing. If we want to design more circular products with more socially equitable access, we must also capitalize on the supply chain disruptions in front of us to redesign our supply chain to be more resilient and more circular.

Originally published in GreenBiz

Read the full report

November 17, New York – Today, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy released its latest report, Transitioning to a Circular System for Plastics: Assessing Molecular Recycling Technologies in the United States and Canada. This research fits into the firm’s broader Advancing Circular Systems for Plastics & Packaging Initiative, which tackles plastic waste through innovation and investment; prioritizing design innovation and reuse models to reduce the overall volume of plastics produced, while also strengthening recycling infrastructure to recover existing plastics after use. This new report focuses specifically on one part of the recycling system: “molecular” or “advanced” recycling technologies. It examines their potential role in a circular and safe future for plastics, and the policy, market, and environmental and human health impact conditions needed to achieve this optimal future state.  

The sheer diversity and volume of plastics in our system today, from textiles to packaging to electronics, means that no single sector, technology or approach can solve the plastics waste challenge entirely or quickly enough. Plastics production is set to triple by 2050; to move the needle on the 9% of plastics currently recycled globally, a suite of solutions must be deployed, first emphasizing reduction and reuse, and also acknowledging the role of recycling in keeping valuable plastics in play for longer and reducing the need for fossil fuel extraction. 

Molecular recycling, also commonly referred to as advanced recycling or chemical recycling, refers to a diverse sector, which encompasses dozens of technologies that use solvents, heat, enzymes, and even sound waves to purify or transform plastics at the molecular level. While these technologies require more energy than traditional mechanical recycling, they can process a wider range of plastic waste into like-new materials. Their various outputs can be looped back into manufacturing supply chains without compromising quality or being downcycled.

Collectively, molecular recycling technologies have the potential to expand the scope of plastics we can recycle, help preserve the value of resources in our economy, and help meet the demand for high-quality, recycled plastics, even food grade plastic. However, to date, there is a scarcity of comparative analysis among the different technologies and a lack of systems-level analysis of their potential financial, environmental, and human health opportunities and risks. 

In Assessing Molecular Recycling Technologies in the United States and Canada, Closed Loop Partners goes deeper into many of the unanswered questions regarding these technologies, committing to support data-backed decision-making in this early-stage sector. Together with its technical partner Anthesis Group, Closed Loop Partners worked with nine companies – APK AG, PureCycle Technologies, Carbios, GreenMantra, JEPLAN, gr3n, Brightmark, Plastic Energy, and Enerkem – across the sector’s three molecular recycling technology categories: purification, depolymerization and conversion. The report shares insights drawn from the evaluation of the nine datasets, with the goal of educating investors, brands, retailers, policymakers and nonprofit organizations that seek actionable information on the sector. 

“To close the loop on plastic waste we will need to deploy multiple strategies and harness innovation in reduction and reuse alongside a diversity of recycling technologies. It’s imperative that we recover all kinds of plastic, including and beyond single-use plastic packaging. Two-thirds of plastics used in the U.S. today are for applications like wind turbines, textiles, car parts and healthcare devices––which are viable feedstock for different advanced recycling technologies,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This report should serve as a guide to investors, policymakers, and anyone who cares about the plastic waste crisis and would like to explore what must be true in order for new and established technologies to play a safe and viable role in a circular system for plastics, without creating unintended consequences.” 

The report includes 10 key takeaways and calls to action for stakeholders to advance safe and circular solutions to address the urgent plastic waste crisis. Key insights from the report include: 

• Overall, the average carbon emissions from producing plastic through all three molecular recycling technology categories showed an improvement compared to corresponding virgin plastics systems, with environmental impacts varying within and across the technology categories
• A greener grid will play a critical role in decreasing the environmental impact of these technologies and renewable energy inputs should be integral to any commercialization strategy of technologies looking to link to the circular plastics economy 
• Molecular recycling technologies can complement existing mechanical recycling infrastructure by processing plastic waste that mechanical recyclers would otherwise have to pay to discard; integrating a mix of all three molecular recycling technologies into the broader recycling system in the United States and Canada could double the amount of plastic packaging recycled, compared to 2019 recycling rates, and generate up to $970 million dollars (USD) annually for the existing recycling system
• Policymakers, investors, and businesses, among other key stakeholders, will determine the degree of environmental, human health, and financial success of this sector; they are responsible for ensuring that the most circular solutions are scaled, incentives are established to support circular outcomes, and policies and regulations maintain and protect human health, worker safety, and climate change mitigation  

This report includes over 100 questions to supplement an investor’s due diligence of molecular recycling technologies, as well as links to nine case studies that outline best-practices in the market today. To download Closed Loop Partners’ latest report and sign up for educational webinars on the topic, please visit the Closed Loop Partners website here. 

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is a New York-based investment firm comprised of venture capital, growth equity, private equity and project finance, as well as an innovation center focused on building the circular economy. The firm has built an ecosystem that connects entrepreneurs, industry experts, global consumer goods companies, retailers, financial institutions and municipalities. Investments align capitalism with positive social and environmental impact by reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions via materials innovation, advanced recycling technologies, supply chain optimization and landfill diversion. Learn more here. 

About Advancing Circular Systems for Plastics and Packaging Initiative

At Closed Loop Partners, we envision a waste-free future for plastics. We launched our Advancing Circular System for Plastics and Packaging Initiative understanding that there is no silver bullet solution to solve complex global waste challenges. Ending plastics waste will require a combination of approaches such as design innovation, reuse and molecular recycling to accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastics. Learn more about our investments, collaboration and research here.

This report, Transitioning to a Circular System for Plastics: Assessing Molecular Recycling Technologies in the United States and Canada, focuses on one part of a circular plastics system: molecular recycling technologies. Our Center for the Circular Economy created this report with the support of nine molecular recycling technology companies, more than 75 peer reviewers and advisors, NGO partners and contributing partners Target Corporation, Bank of America Foundation, Colgate-Palmolive Company, the American Chemistry Council, 3M & Sealed Air Corporation.