Nov. 1, 2023 — Today, the NextGen Consortium, a leading industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners, with partner brands including Starbucks, McDonald’s, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, JDE Peet’s, The Wendy’s Company and Yum! Brands, released a report with new findings to accelerate paper cup recycling in the U.S. The report, Closing the Loop on Cups: Collective Action to Advance the Recovery of Paper Cups in the U.S., assesses the role of each stakeholder across the paper cup recovery value chain––including paper mills, materials recovery facilities (MRFs), brands, consumers and local communities––and provides recommended actions to increase paper cup recovery opportunities and advance a more circular system.

Every day, millions of people around the world drink from paper cups. They’re safe, functional and convenient–– so much so that globally, more than 250 billion cups are produced each year. But convenience comes with environmental consequences: the majority of cups end up in landfill today. The NextGen Consortium has taken a three-pronged approach to address cup waste holistically: 1) Advancing reusable cup systems that keep materials in circulation for multiple uses, 2) Exploring material science innovation that enhances the sustainability and recoverability of cup materials, and 3) Strengthening materials recovery and recycling infrastructure that recaptures cups after use.

In this report, the NextGen Consortium focuses on the need to strengthen existing materials recovery and recycling infrastructure systems to recapture more paper cups. Recovering and recycling paper cups ensures the value embodied in paper cups—primarily comprised of fiber and a plastic liner—is recovered, rather than wasted in landfill. These cups contain high-quality fiber that is valuable to paper mills as other paper sources like newsprint and office paper decline. While the challenges for paper cup recovery and recycling are significant, collaboration among various stakeholders involved in paper cup recovery can help address its scale and complexity. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities, including:

• Today, only about 11 percent of communities accept cups in their recycling operations. This poses a significant barrier to cup recycling, as residents have few options to properly recycle their used cups.
• While only a handful of cities in the U.S. are officially accepting cups in their recycling programs, the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) identified more than 30 paper mills that accept paper cups in mixed paper bales representing 75 percent of U.S. mixed paper demand, and an additional five mills accepting cups in carton bales. These mills are taking recovered paper materials, including cups, and reprocessing them into new products.
• In 2023, the NextGen Consortium, in collaboration with FPI and Moore & Associates, identified more than 15 additional mills across North America that are interested in testing cup acceptance or that can process cups today. This new interest is a tremendous endorsement for the work that is taking place and can catalyze cup acceptance at MRFs and in new communities in the months and years ahead.
• Each stakeholder in the value chain has an important role to play in improving paper cup recycling. The report outlines key calls to action, including calling on:
  • Mills to conduct recycling tests on paper cups to determine if the fiber can be captured without any negative operational impacts at their facilities;
  • MRFs to conduct material flow studies to determine where best to site interventions for cup sortation and to collaborate with mills and communities to expand acceptable recycling lists as more mills accept cups;
  • Communities to engage with MRFs and mills to evaluate feasibility of adding cups to accepted recyclables list;
  • Consumers to bring their own reusable cups when they can and to check local recyclability options and guidance when using disposable cups;
  • Brands to source recycled paper content when procuring their cups and other packaging, among other activities.

“The waste generated from to-go paper cups has become a highly visible representation of our disposable, take-make-waste culture. However, these cups also are a valuable resource with growing opportunities for recovery,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “We know that collaboration across stakeholders––from mills and MRFs to brands and cities––is going to be critical to solving this challenge and ensuring paper cups don’t end up in landfill or polluting our environment. The NextGen Consortium plays a key role in advancing the innovation, testing and partnerships needed to make this possible.”

Since its founding in 2018, the NextGen Consortium has taken a holistic and collaborative approach to addressing the challenge of single-use cup waste, advancing reuse models, exploring material science innovations and strengthening materials recovery and recycling infrastructure that recaptures cups after use. While material reduction and reuse are key pathways to reduce reliance on virgin resource extraction, end-of-life recovery pathways are equally critical to ensure that the value embodied in all types of cups, including single-use paper cups, is recovered, rather than wasted in landfill.

As the NextGen Consortium works toward its goal of eliminating foodservice packaging waste, it will continue to work to improve and align recovery and recycling infrastructure across the entire value chain, from collection and sortation to processing and strengthening end markets. Collaborative action, data-driven decision-making and iterative testing continue to be critical to closing the loop on a greater diversity and volume of valuable resources and avoiding unintended consequences. The learnings from this report aim to guide the industry towards a future in which reusing valuable materials in products becomes the commonsense norm, shaping a more circular economy.

About the NextGen Consortium

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year consortium that addresses single-use foodservice packaging waste globally by advancing the design, commercialization and recovery of foodservice packaging alternatives. The NextGen Consortium is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Starbucks and McDonald’s are the founding partners of the Consortium, with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo as sector lead partners. JDE Peet’s, The Wendy’s Company and Yum! Brands are supporting partners. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the environmental advisory partner. Learn more at www.nextgenconsortium.com.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: Closed Loop Capital Management, the Center for the Circular Economy and Circular Services. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched its innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, which unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create, invest in and support scalable innovations that target big system problems. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

Behind the walls of recycling facilities across the U.S., a sea of materials moves through hands and machines working hard to get them to the end of the line––and the beginning of their next life. A critical balance of manual labor and automation enables the sorting and recovery of these materials in a closed loop system. Yet despite a multi-step sortation process, it is difficult to track what flows through the system at all times. It’s a challenge that results in many recycled materials losing potential value, in addition to millions of dollars worth of valuable material being sent to landfill unintentionally.

Among the diverse materials flowing through the recycling system are the yogurt containers, and iced coffee and fountain beverage cups many of us use on a regular basis. These are just a few examples of products made of one of the most commonly used resins in foodservice packaging today: polypropylene (PP). PP is a valuable material that should be kept in circulation to reduce waste and meet corporate commitments to use more recycled content in foodservice packaging. With that said, very little mechanically recycled food-grade PP actually cycles back into food-grade applications. Most end up in nonfood-grade applications that limit their value and the number of times they can be reused. To create a more circular path for food-grade PP, we must first answer the question: what is in the PP stream today, and how much of it is food-grade or clear food-grade PP?

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year industry collaboration addressing single-use foodservice packaging waste by advancing solutions across material innovation, reuse and recovery infrastructure––and it’s working to answer that question. In the fall of 2022, the Consortium partnered with Resource Recycling Systems to examine PP bales in two materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to learn what was inside. While only a snapshot in time, the results were enlightening.

On average, nearly half of the PP bales (48%) were presumed food-grade, and more than a quarter of the bales were clear food-grade (26%). Clear beverage cups represented 14% of the bale on average. The high percentage of food-grade PP suggested that there is untapped value in the PP stream. A better system is required to ensure food-grade and/or clear food-grade PP is properly sorted into a separate bale at some point in the value chain if we are to retain its highest potential value.

This year, the NextGen Consortium is diving even deeper, launching a first-of-its-kind study leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the composition of the PP material stream well before it ends up in a bale. Together with its managing partner––Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy––the NextGen Consortium is working with Greyparrot, a leading AI waste analytics platform for the circular economy. The collaboration aims to track and categorize objects in the PP stream, and determine the volume of valuable food-grade material passing through the system. AI is on the rise as one potential means of increasing visibility into the recycling process. Today, more technologies are needed to handle an increasingly mixed stream of collected materials, including plastics, electronics, textiles and food scraps––and to enable the recovery of clean, high-quality materials.

“Ensuring that recovery infrastructure can keep pace with a rapidly growing and diverse material stream is critical to advancing the circular economy, alongside solutions such as material innovation, reduction and reuse,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “An important part of our work in the NextGen Consortium is identifying opportunities for data collection and analysis that can advance the circularity of foodservice packaging, and drive greater value for stakeholders across the system, including brands, innovators, infrastructure operators and consumers.”

As part of this project, the Greyparrot Analyser units will be installed above the PP recovery conveyor belts at four leading U.S. MRFs: Balcones Recycling, TX; Cougles Recycling, PA; Rumpke Recycling, OH; and Eureka Recycling, MN. Greyparrot’s AI-powered computer vision system uses cameras to capture images of objects in the PP stream, aiming to quantify and qualify the materials flowing through the MRFs. Their AI model will look to categorize each object based on material, format, financial value and brand, as well as distinguish food- and nonfood-grade material, using those images. Their units will then send that data to an analytics dashboard in real-time. Through machine learning, the flexible vision systems can help improve their package recognition and classification over time.

“We use artificial intelligence to gain continuous and reliable visibility into recycling streams,” said Ambarish Mitra, Co-founder and CPO of Greyparrot. “This helps us improve recycling operations by placing waste intelligence into the hands of the people who are recovering, redesigning and remanufacturing the objects we throw away. We are thrilled to work with our U.S. partners towards our vision of a future where every piece of waste is valued as a resource.”

The collaborative project––a first of its kind in North America––will run for more than six months. During that period, it will gather data on the composition of PP bales over time, while accounting for seasonality. That insight can help determine the potential untapped value in these streams, and identify other materials that might be coming through unintentionally. This data can also help shed light on the presumed volume of food-grade material being captured in the system, along with opportunities for recovery and separation into distinct value chains. More broadly, this can advance a circular economy for valuable materials, improve material quality delivered to recycling facilities, and enhance the value of recyclable commodities shipped to U.S. end markets.

“A lot is unknown about the curbside polypropylene stream today. Filling these knowledge gaps can increase the pace of development for material recovery. Understanding the composition of the stream in a large-scale study highlights potential, reduces risk for pioneers and accelerates better design implementation. This study will be the catalyst to developing much larger-scale recycling of polypropylene,” said Curt Cozart, President of Common Sense Solutions and Technical Advisor to the project.

PP cup recovery––alongside material innovation, reuse and fiber cup recovery––is a critical focus for the NextGen Consortium. According to The Recycling Partnership, more than 2 billion pounds of PP are generated every year by single-family households in the U.S. If just 30% of this material were recovered, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 300,000 metric tons, providing over 600 million pounds of valuable raw material to companies with recycled content commitments for their foodservice packaging, both voluntary and mandated.

The NextGen Consortium has been actively involved in PP recovery since 2021, when it joined The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition as a Steering Committee member. Through this initiative, the group helps to fund equipment grants for MRFs so that they can effectively capture PP packaging, and improve community recycling access rates. In addition to improving recycling access, the NextGen Consortium is committed to driving recycling rates by supporting the recovery of post-consumer recycled content (PCR) that can be re-incorporated into packaging.

This collaboration with Greyparrot and MRFs across the U.S. is one critical step toward achieving the NextGen Consortium’s goals. As more data about the PP material stream is captured over the next six months, the Consortium will analyze the new data, identifying opportunities to improve PP sortation and recovery into higher value, new food-grade applications and areas where more research is needed. The NextGen Consortium continues to invite additional MRFs to participate in the project, to gain a better understanding into what is flowing through their material streams and identify ways to drive more value to the system.

About the NextGen Consortium

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year consortium that addresses single-use food packaging waste globally by advancing the design, commercialization, and recovery of food packaging alternatives. The NextGen Consortium is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Starbucks and McDonald’s are the founding partners of the Consortium, with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo as sector lead partners. JDE Peet’s, Wendy’s and Yum! Brands are supporting partners. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the environmental advisory partner. Learn more at www.nextgenconsortium.com.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is  at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: Closed Loop Capital Management, the Center for the Circular Economy and Circular Services. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched its innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, which unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create, invest in, and support scalable innovations that target big system problems. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

This May, Dollar Tree, Inc. announced its participation in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag as a Supporting Partner, alongside other leading retailers committed to reducing single-use plastic bag waste. The Consortium, managed by Closed Loop Partners, convenes leading retailers aiming to identify, test and implement viable design models to create a system that serves the function of the current retail bag, providing customers with convenient, accessible and environmentally-sound solutions. Dollar Tree and Family Dollar’s commitment to the Consortium supports their mission to make sure shoppers have the things they need in their everyday lives, and to create an experience that is uniquely convenient and affordable––while also helping reduce waste in the process.

By advancing and testing innovative solutions to reinvent the retail bag and reduce single-use plastic waste with the Consortium, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar are helping more communities gain access to less wasteful ways to bring goods home. The Fortune 200 company continues to make steps to reduce its environmental footprint, and this partnership in the Consortium is another key step toward its goals.

As a Consortium partner, Dollar Tree, Inc. will participate in the Consortium’s ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ Pilot in select cities to encourage customers to shop with reusable bags more frequently. The program also includes test strategies, such as signage, marketing and customer prompts to reinforce shopper behavior and ultimately reduce dependence on single-use plastic bags.

“At Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, we are working to ensure we play a responsible role in the communities we serve, as we bring more value and convenience to our customers,” says Jennifer Silberman, Chief Sustainability Officer of Dollar Tree. “A key part of this is ensuring that we are reducing our waste and environmental impact across our stores. We look forward to our partnership with the Beyond the Bag Consortium, as we work together to identify more sustainable and accessible solutions that serve the function of the current retail bag and reduce plastic waste.”

“Dollar Tree and Family Dollar’s participation as a Supporting Partner in the Beyond the Bag Consortium is another key milestone for expanding our collective impact,” said Kate Daly, Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “Collaboration across sectors is a critical part of this effort. Their partnership not only further moves the needle across the retail industry, but will also increase access to less wasteful solutions to bring goods home in more communities across the United States.”

NEW YORK, May 30, 2023 — Closed Loop Partners announced a $10 million investment in its Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund from Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The investment partnership aims to advance the recovery and recycling of rigid and flexible polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plastics in the United States and Canada.

The Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund is a key part of Closed Loop Partners’ broader strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics in a circular economy. The fund focuses on PE, PP and flexible plastics––critical resin types that require additional investment to keep more material in circulation and help ensure that the industry’s demand for recycled material will be met. The fund provides catalytic debt and equity financing, spurring additional mainstream investments into recovery and recycling solutions and infrastructure that can help address bottlenecks in the recycling system. Fund performance is benchmarked according to a combination of financial and impact outcomes, including tons of PE and PP impacted, and tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions avoided or reduced.

With its investment, SMBC joins a group of leading corporate investors dedicated to the transition to a more circular economy for plastics, including Dow, LyondellBasell, NOVA Chemicals, Charter Next Generation, Chevron Phillips Chemical, SK geo centric Co. and SEE. This collaborative effort is key to advancing the recovery and recycling of plastics in the U.S. and Canada, at scale.

“SMBC is committed to sustainability, while identifying partnerships that leverage our expertise and strong footprint in the Japan and Asia Pacific region. Our team is proud to partner in the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund’s catalytic, impact-first effort to accelerate infrastructure, equipment, municipal services, as well as innovation and enabling technologies related to flexible films and specific plastic types,” said Masayuki Takanashi, Group Chief Sustainability Officer (CSuO) of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. “Our commitment and partnership with Closed Loop Partners are part of SMBC’s steadfast commitment to our stakeholders, our local and international communities, the global environment, and the next generation.”

Since its launch in 2021, the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund has made several catalytic debt and equity investments to both private companies and public organizations, financing post-pilot scale projects that advance collection infrastructure, sortation capabilities, enabling technologies and re-manufacturing of PE and PP plastics, including:

• Equity investment in Greyparrot, a leading AI waste analytics platform that links to moving conveyor belts in sorting facilities to increase transparency and automation in recycling and help unlock the financial value of recycled materials;
• Loan to Myplas USA, a recycling company building a 170,000 square-foot plastic films recycling plant in Minnesota, aiming to process up to 45,000 tons of plastic waste annually at full capacity, diverting these valuable materials from landfill;
• Equity investment in Circular Services, the largest privately held recycling and reuse company in North America, including major municipal and commercial contracts;
• Follow-on loan to the Waste Commission of Scott County, a solid waste district in Iowa, to finance the purchase of new optical sorters for the county’s existing materials recovery facility.

Plastics recovery and recycling presents a significant economic opportunity, alongside the environmental upside of millions of tons of plastics diverted from landfills and the natural environment. Increasing plastics recovery, alongside material reduction solutions, scalable reuse systems and innovative new materials, can help meet an addressable market for plastics with potential revenue opportunities of $120 billion in the U.S. and Canada alone. With plastic waste expected to triple by 2060, the need for investments has grown even more urgent.

“The Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund is a specialty strategy within our Closed Loop Infrastructure Group. SMBC joins our corporate partners, portfolio companies, subject matter experts and experienced Closed Loop Partners team to enhance the ecosystem effect that bolsters our private credit and equity solutions,” said Jennifer Louie, Head of the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group at Closed Loop Partners. “These solutions can help catalyze additional financial participation––accelerating the projects, infrastructure and innovations needed to close the loop on plastics.”

To date, Closed Loop Partners has kept 4.8 million tons of materials in circulation and contributed to the avoidance of 10.1 million tonnes of CO2e. The firm’s vision for a circular economy includes a circular future for plastics––one that reduces the need to extract virgin resources, harnesses design innovation and material science, and champions reuse models and new product delivery models. In the global transition to circularity, all sectors, industries and societies are needed to effect systemic change. Understanding these contributions to global supply chains is necessary, as investors, innovators and cities play key roles in advancing the solutions that can drive forward a global transition to a circular economy.

Interested in applying for financing from the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund? Learn more here.

SMBC is an investor in the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund. No material conflicts of interest are present as this entity did not receive any compensation for their comments.

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments. Closed Loop Capital Management manages venture capital, growth equity, buyout and catalytic private credit investment strategies on behalf of global corporations, financial institutions and family offices. The Center for the Circular Economy unites competitors and partners to tackle complex material challenges and implement systemic change to advance circularity. Circular Services employs innovative technology within reuse, recycling, remanufacturing and re-commerce solutions to improve regional economic and environmental outcomes, and build resilient systems that keep food & organics, textiles, electronics, packaging and more, in circulation and out of landfill or the natural environment. Closed Loop Partners is based in New York City and is a registered B Corp. For more information, please visit www.closedlooppartners.com.

About Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

SMBC is the commercial banking subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc and one of the largest banks globally on the basis of total assets. It provides an extensive range of corporate and consumer banking services in Japan and globally.

About Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.

SMFG is one of the largest financial institutions headquartered in Japan, with an established presence across all consumer and corporate banking businesses. Through the subsidiaries and affiliates, SMFG offers a diverse range of financial services, including commercial banking, leasing, securities, credit card, consumer finance and other services. SMFG’s consolidated total assets were 264 trillion Yen as of December 31, 2022.

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.

Four leading Asian and global institutional investors have also joined the funding round, including food sector private equity investor, Proterra Asia; Pavilion Capital; Convivialité Ventures, the venture arm of global wine and spirits leader, Pernod Ricard; and ecoSPIRITS’ existing venture capital investor, Wavemaker Partners. The Series A proceeds will be used to strengthen ecoSPIRITS’ leadership position in closed loop packaging technologies for spirits and wine and accelerate its research and development program.

“We are thrilled with the successful close of our Series A round, which not only validates ecoSPIRITS’ impressive progress in building a comprehensive technology platform, but also marks a significant milestone in our journey to global scale. We are equally honoured to welcome leading investors to our journey such as Closed Loop Partners, Proterra Asia, Pavilion Capital and Convivialité Ventures. The future gets brighter when more resources are invested in circular economy innovation.” 

Sui Ling Cheah, ecoSPIRITS Executive Board Chair

The new funding will help ecoSPIRITS scale up its hardware, software and Internet-of-Things (IoT) research and development program, expanding its investment in its Intelligent Circular™ roadmap. The funding will also be used to expand operations in key markets worldwide, including the United States, and grow its regional customer and engineering teams in Miami, London, Singapore and Shanghai. At the time of funding, the ecoSPIRITS’ closed loop technology platform is active or launching in 25 countries worldwide, including the majority of the world’s largest economies.

May 1, 2023 – National retailers and local mom-and-pop shops across Denver, CO and Tucson, AZ join forces in the new ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ Pilot, a first-of-its-kind initiative launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, managed by Closed Loop Partners. Many national brands in the U.S., including Consortium partners CVS Health; Target; DICK’S Sporting Goods; Dollar General; The Kroger Co., through local King Soopers & Fry’s stores; TJX, through local T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores; and Ulta Beauty, will simultaneously test bag reduction solutions alongside local mom-and-pop shops to determine whether collective retailer action can drive a broader cultural shift, where bringing your own reusable bag becomes the norm wherever customers shop.

While reusable bags are one of the most adopted reusable products today, research from the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag shows a lack of consistency in use. This pilot aims to reinforce the behavior at scale––supporting customers to remember bags more frequently and to reimagine where they could bring said bags, beyond just the grocery store. Participating retailers will test the same bag reduction strategies found in the Consortium’s Playbook––including signage, marketing and customer prompts about reusable bags––in, near and outside over 150 stores in Denver, Tucson and the surrounding metro areas.

This pilot to reduce single-use plastic waste is taking place at a critical time. Today, it is estimated that 100 billion plastic bags are used annually in the U.S. and fewer than 10% are recycled. Resource limits, supply chain disruption and plastic pollution increase the urgency to move from a take-make-waste economic system and “disposable” culture to a more circular economy where materials are shared and reused. Reducing single-use bags across retailers can make a tremendous difference. Even a 1% bag reduction has a significant impact on our waste footprint––it is equivalent to 1 billion fewer bags used and discarded in the U.S. Empowering customers to bring their own bag plays a key role in single-use bag reduction.

The Bring Your Own Bag Pilot will run from May 1 to July 30, 2023 and is informed by the work of the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag over the past three years, including hundreds of innovations evaluated, multiple solutions tested, and thousands of customers and retail staff surveyed. Based on pilot results, the Consortium will explore scaling these low-cost, easy to implement strategies, catalyzing a national cultural shift around reuse.

If you are interested in learning more about the pilot, or if you are a retailer interested in participating, please visit our website here.

“The most sustainable bag is often the one we already own. Retailers coming together to support customers in bringing their own reusable bag whenever and wherever they shop is a key step to reducing single-use plastic waste,” said Kate Daly, Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This pilot brings to life the Beyond the Bag Consortium’s collaborative, holistic approach to addressing an urgent plastic waste challenge, and we look forward to seeing the impact of this effort at scale.”

“As we expand these reusable bag solutions across CVS Pharmacy locations and learn about consumer behaviors, we continue to see the power in collective retail action,” said Sheryl Burke, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Chief Sustainability Officer at CVS Health. “With everyone’s drive, dedication and collaboration, we will continue making a lasting impact on creating a healthier world today and for future generations.”

“We are hopeful these small local steps can lead to greater progress. If we are successful, this multi-city pilot program will provide a model that retailers can scale in other geographies, realizing near-term environmental impact and cost-savings,” said Denine Torr, Dollar General’s vice president of corporate social responsibility and philanthropy.

“We all need to work together to create healthier, thriving communities across the country. This pilot is another opportunity to engage our customers directly as we work to reduce waste,” said Denise Osterhues, Senior Director, Sustainability and Social Impact from The Kroger Co.

“When it comes to finding alternatives to single-use plastic bags, our team is committed to co-creating accessible solutions that bring everyone to the table,” said Amanda Nusz, senior vice president of corporate responsibility at Target. “We’re thrilled to participate in this pilot alongside our consortium partners to explore new ways of encouraging broader reusable bag use by our guests and communities.”

“We are pleased to participate in Closed Loop Partners’ innovative campaign, and to collaborate with so many other retailers in support of the reduction of the waste created by single-use bags. This campaign aligns with our ongoing corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts, and is anchored by our mission to deliver great value to our customers every day while pursuing initiatives that are environmentally responsible and smart for our business,” said Brenna Zimmer, Vice President, Sustainability at TJX.

“As the nation’s largest beauty retailer, we understand our role and responsibility to do what’s right for our guests and our world. The Ulta Beauty teams in these markets are excited to pilot these bag reduction strategies alongside our retail peers. Working together helps lay the foundation for a future where reuse is the norm and together, we can move the industry forward at scale,” said Kristin Wolf, Ulta Beauty’s Senior Vice President of Enterprise Strategy and Transformation.

“We are thrilled to see this innovative campaign running in our city, which will complement Denver’s existing fee on disposable bags. This approach will build awareness and gives customers more opportunities to build the habit of bringing their own bag,” said Grace Rink, Denver’s Chief Climate Officer. “Together we can reduce waste, prevent litter, and protect our rivers and streams.”

“I am grateful to all of the Tucson retailers who are participating in this pilot campaign,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero. “Tucsonans and businesses care deeply about our desert environment. Bringing your own reusable bag when shopping reduces the need for single-use plastic bags, helps us advance our goal of reaching Zero Waste by 2050, and keeps our city clean.”

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Adept at navigating every step in the value chain, Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create scalable innovations that target big system problems.

The Center currently manages three consortia: the NextGen Consortium, to advance solutions that can help address single-use foodservice packaging waste; the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag to identify, test and scale solutions that can help address single-use plastic bag waste; and the Composting Consortium, to pilot industry-wide solutions and build a roadmap for investment in technologies and infrastructure that enable the recovery of compostable food packaging and food scraps. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy launched the initiative with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. The Kroger Co. joined as Grocery Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods joined as Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, Dollar General as Value Sector Lead Partner, TJX as Apparel & Home Goods Sector Lead Partner, and Ulta Beauty as Beauty Sector Lead Partner. Ahold Delhaize USA companies, Albertsons Companies, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Wakefern Food Corp., and Walgreens are Supporting Partners, and Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy serve as Environmental Advisory Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

Contact: [email protected]

March 14, 2023, New York –– Closed Loop Partners’ Circular Plastics Fund announced Tuesday the addition of two new investors––Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) and Charter Next Generation (CNG)––bringing the fund’s total capital to $45 million in an effort to support the development of plastics recycling and recovery infrastructure in North America.

The Circular Plastics Fund, managed by Closed Loop Partners, is focused on meeting the growing need to advance the recycling of rigid and flexible polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) plastics in the United States and Canada. Global companies CPChem and CNG join existing investors Dow, LyondellBasell, NOVA Chemicals, SK geo centric Co. and Sealed Air.

“We saw the speed with which Closed Loop Partners’ Circular Plastics Fund put capital to work and determined that investing in the fund would help address our impact goals,” said Rick Wagner, Sustainability Policy & Program Manager at CPChem. “Collaboration will be a key component in advancing the transition to a circular economy. We look forward to joining the Circular Plastics Fund and furthering work to achieve a more sustainable future.”

In just its first year, the Circular Plastics Fund made significant investments in a range of solutions, including cutting-edge sortation technology and recycling infrastructure for plastics. Investments include:

• SMR (formerly Sims Municipal Recycling), a leading recycling company managing several municipal recycling programs across the United States;
• Myplas, a new state-of-the-art 170,000-square-foot flexible film recycling plant in Minnesota;
• Greyparrot, a leading AI waste analytics platform that improves transparency and automation for plastics sortation in recycling facilities;
• And additional debt financing to Waste Commission of Scott County, a solid waste district in Northeast Iowa.

“The Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund’s investments work to catalyze a systemic shift in plastics supply chains, enabling companies to transition from a linear to circular model that utilizes recycled materials,” said Jennifer Louie, Head of the Circular Plastics Fund at Closed Loop Partners. “Looking ahead, we have a strong pipeline of companies across the plastics recycling value chain and need more capital to invest in these critical solutions. This additional $10 million from our new investors will allow us to accelerate our capital deployment and reach our impact goals. We hope to see other companies with circular plastics goals join to help us achieve impact at scale.”

Closed Loop Partners launched the Circular Plastics Fund as part of its broader strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics. The fund provides catalytic debt and equity financing, spurring additional mainstream investments into recycling solutions and infrastructure that can help address bottlenecks in the recycling system for PE, PP and flexible plastics––materials deemed critical to ensuring that the industry’s growing demand for high-quality recycled material will be met.

The current supply of recycled plastics meets only 6% of the demand for the most commonly used plastics in the United States and Canada. Increasing the recovery and circularity of plastics, alongside material reduction solutions, scalable reuse systems and innovative new materials, not only can prevent millions of tons of plastics from going to landfills or ending up in the natural environment, but can help meet an addressable market for plastics with potential revenue opportunities of $120 billion in the U.S. and Canada alone. With plastic waste expected to triple by 2060[1], the need for investments has grown even more urgent.

“The investment from the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund was critical to our expansion into the U.S.,” said Andrew Pieterse, CEO of Myplas USA, a portfolio company of the Circular Plastics Fund. “The fund played a critical role to help bring key stakeholders from across the plastics value chain to grow much-needed regional circular systems for flexible plastics in the U.S. We are thrilled to leverage the fund’s capital and strong network to help us build a successful initial operation in Minnesota followed by ambitious expansion plans to other parts of the Midwest and beyond.”

“We chose to invest through Closed Loop Partners because of their shared sense of urgency to invest in high-impact businesses that can scale to match the global plastic waste challenge,” said Hemal Vyas, Vice-President of Sustainability and Strategy, Charter Next Generation.

Closed Loop Partners, a leading circular economy investment firm, has over $500 million in assets under management, and has made over 65 investments, keeping 3.6 million tons of materials in circulation and avoiding 6.8 million tonnes of CO2e to date. The firm’s vision for a circular economy includes a circular future for plastics––one that reduces the need to extract virgin resources, harnesses design innovation and material science, and champions reuse models and new product delivery models.

CPChem and CNG are investors in the Circular Plastics Fund, and Myplas USA is a portfolio company of the Circular Plastics Fund. No material conflicts of interest are present as none of these three entities received any compensation for their comments.

About the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund at Closed Loop Partners

The Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund provides catalytic financing to build circular economy infrastructure and improve the recovery of polypropylene and polyethylene plastic in the U.S. & Canada, returning plastics to more sustainable manufacturing supply chains for use as feedstock for future products and packaging. Learn more about the Fund’s investment criteria and apply for funding here.

The Fund’s goal of optimizing recovery infrastructure is one part of Closed Loop Partners’ broader initiative of Advancing Circular Systems for Plastics. This initiative prioritizes scaling reuse and refill models and reducing material usage in design, while bolstering the recovery infrastructure to address plastics waste.

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: an investment firm, innovation center and operating group. The investment firm invests in venture, growth equity, buyout and catalytic private credit strategies on behalf of global institutions, corporations and family offices. The innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, unites competitors and partners to tackle complex material challenges and implement systemic change to advance circularity. The operating group, Circular Services, has twelve recycling facilities in operation today, and provides holistic, circular materials management to close the loop on valuable materials for municipalities and businesses throughout the United States. Closed Loop Partners is based in New York City and is a registered B Corp. For more information, please visit www.closedlooppartners.com.

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/recycling-efforts-not-enough-to-solve-plastic-waste-problem/#:~:text=According%20to%20recent%20estimates%20from,to%20landfill%20by%20that%20point.

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.

NEW YORK, March 14, 2023 — Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy and its Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag released a new playbook to provide near-term single-use bag reduction wins that can be implemented by any retailer–– from small local stores to large national brands. The resource highlights effective solutions to reduce the number of bags needed by retailers and encourage the use of reusable bags customers already have at home. Key insights from the playbook are based on research, interviews, surveys and learnings from 17 of the world’s leading retailers across four key categories: communications, employee training, bag and fixture design, and customer incentives.

The playbook highlights 25 strategies across these four categories that cater to retailers who are at different stages of their journey. These strategies include detailed guidance on how best to prompt customers to bring their own bags, where to place reusable bags, items retailers can skip bagging, which customer incentives can be deployed and other strategies. The playbook insights are the product of a first-of-its-kind collaboration among Closed Loop Partners and many of the world’s leading retailers, including 14 retail partners in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag and three external retailers. Experts from Closed Loop Partners led the creation of the playbook, supported by retail consultancy, McMillanDoolittle, who performed quantitative and qualitative surveys and deep-dive interviews with retailers, supplemented with secondary research and analysis.

Reducing the number of single-use bags that retailers use across their stores can make a tremendous difference. Even a 1% bag reduction has a significant impact on our global waste footprint––in the U.S., that is equivalent to 1 billion fewer bags used and discarded. Beyond driving progress toward sustainability goals, using fewer single-use bags can also help retailers reduce costs, address challenges in stocking bags, engage employees, support customers, and build brand reputation and loyalty.

“Our new playbook walks retailers through strategies they can implement today to get teams and customers on board with reducing single-use bags in stores and encourage shoppers to reuse their own bags,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This tool is for retailers who are looking for quick wins and those seeking innovative, new approaches. We hope these insights serve as an inspiration to retailers looking to reduce their plastic footprint and deploy bag reduction solutions.”

The Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag has been working to reimagine the retail bag in the store and across emerging channels like local delivery since its launch in 2020. The last three years have shown significant progress––growing from five retail partners to 15, and deploying more than 6,000 iterative tests, surveys and pilots across markets to help accelerate learnings and the development of sustainable bag solutions. This year, the Consortium will go back into market on a larger scale, testing different complementary strategies to reduce single-use bags. This work will build on the Consortium’s different workstreams––innovation, customer research, policy and infrastructure––and efforts to date. There is no silver bullet to addressing a global plastics waste challenge, and the diverse in-market efforts represent the multi-pronged holistic approach of the Consortium.

In Spring 2023, Consortium partners will test multiple strategies from the Playbook simultaneously in two cities in Arizona and Colorado, launching signage, marketing and customer prompts across stores. The goal of these tests is to enable a broader cultural shift towards customers bringing their own reusable bags from home. The Consortium is inviting other retailers––from mom-and-pop shops to large brands––to join and test the same prompts, signage and marketing materials in order to have the broadest reach with customers and to create ecosystem-wide impact.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, where there is legislation banning single-use bags in certain stores, the Consortium will test a “returnable bag service” model in which customers are “borrowing” a bag onsite, reusing it before eventually returning it at the same or different retailer’s store to be washed, redistributed and reused by additional customers. This offers a solution for when customers forget to bring their own reusable bags.

Interested retailers can email [email protected] to inquire about joining the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag to gain access to useful research, insights and continued in-market experimentation as well as potentially participate in pilots in Arizona and Colorado.

Learn more at http://beyondthebaginitiative.com/

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Adept at navigating every step in the value chain, Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create scalable innovations that target big system problems. The Center’s first initiative, the NextGen Consortium, assembled leading food and beverage companies, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, to identify and commercialize a widely recyclable, compostable and/or reusable cup. 12 winning cup solutions were selected and the Consortium is supporting the testing of these new solutions as well as conducting select pilots to accelerate their path to scale. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

About the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag

The Beyond the Bag Initiative, launched by the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, aims to identify, pilot and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy launched the initiative with Founding Partners CVS Health, Target and Walmart. The Kroger Co. joined as Grocery Sector Lead Partner, DICK’S Sporting Goods joined as Sports & Outdoors Sector Lead Partner, Dollar General as Value Sector Lead Partner, TJX as Apparel & Home Goods Sector Lead Partner, and Ulta Beauty as Beauty Sector Lead Partner. Ahold Delhaize USA Brands, Albertsons Companies, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Wakefern Food Corp., and Walgreens are Supporting Partners, and Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy serve as Environmental Advisory Partners. Learn more about the Consortium here.

Contact: [email protected]

Baltimore, MD — February 15, 2023—Apkudo, the leader in supply chain automation for connected devices, announced today that they have closed $37.5 million in Series C funding in an oversubscribed round co-led by Closed Loop Partners’ Leadership Fund and Piper Sandler Merchant Banking with the participation from new and existing investors including MissionOG, Harbert Growth, Grotech Ventures, Lavrock Ventures, and Point Field Partners. During 2022, Apkudo continued its rapid growth and doubled revenue as industry players increasingly looked for ways to simplify and optimize their forward and reverse logistics for connected devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wearables and other products. The company will use the funds to further expand their commercial and technical operations, as well as their international presence.

The Apkudo Circular Industry Platform solves for complexities in the connected device supply chain, delivering process efficiencies via a single operating system that manages the lifecycle of these devices, from launch to end of life. Already, Apkudo has connected and optimized the device supply chains for some of the world’s largest manufacturers, network operators, insurers, retailers, logistics providers, repairers and traders. Customers like FedEx, T-Mobile and Asurion have more transparency, security and connectivity across the supply chain for connected devices.

The Platform leverages both hardware and software technology purpose-built to maximize value from resale, repair and reuse while eliminating e-waste and improving profit margin and agility. Instead of relying on extensive labor, disconnected systems and limited reuse options, Apkudo provides a fully integrated diagnostic, dispositioning and marketplace solution that gives customers real-time visibility into global demand for their used devices. This comprehensive solution has saved a large mobile carrier over $100 million by improving inventory visibility and, for a global logistics company, reduced warehouse processing times by 30%.

More than six billion mobile phones alone are currently circulating and this number is expected to grow rapidly with increasing connectivity and consumption across the globe. These electronic devices are made of valuable resources, from the rare earth metals contained in their batteries to their individual electronic components. Yet today, less than 20% of electronics are collected, refurbished or recycled worldwide, which translates to a lost value of more than $50 billion each year. Furthermore, these devices contain several hazardous materials and when not managed properly at end-of-life, pollute air and groundwater at an alarming rate. Apkudo’s technology creates greater transparency and resiliency across the electronic device value chain, empowering businesses to make smart decisions regarding their devices, from launch, to forward logistics, to return, reuse and recycling at a device’s end-of-life.

“Velocity, accuracy, and transparency are required attributes of efficient, effective circular supply chains,” said Josh Matthews, CEO and Co-founder of Apkudo. “The Apkudo Circular Industry Platform is transformative in its approach to connecting industry participants and optimizing these outcomes for each and every device that moves through it.”

“There is so much value within the connected devices already in the market today. Increasing their useful life and keeping these valuable materials in circulation, and out of landfills and the environment, is a critical part of accelerating the circular economy,” said Martin Aares, Head of Asset Management at Closed Loop Partners. “Apkudo is helping build a circular future for connected devices––one that is more transparent and agile. We look forward to working with the Apkudo team as they accelerate the systems change needed for a waste-free future.”

“It’s actually a simple question – what should I do with this device, right now?”, added Seth Harward, managing director, Piper Sandler Merchant Banking. “But it took Apkudo to recognize all the pieces needed to answer that question, then build the solution that customers needed, and then finally make it easy for companies to use. This additional investment will help Apkudo get their solution to companies all over the world looking for a better way.”

To learn more, please visit www.apkudo.com. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

About Apkudo

Headquartered in Baltimore, MD with offices around the world, Apkudo helps companies managing connected devices to maximize device value, minimize labor costs and reduce e-waste. Apkudo’s Circular Industry Platform provides a full suite of decision-support and operating tools: automated testing and grading systems, device lifecycle management and resale market integration. As a result, Apkudo customers always have the answer to the question, “What should I do with this device, right now?”

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: an investment firm, innovation center and operating group. The investment firm invests in venture, growth equity, buyout and catalytic private credit strategies on behalf of global institutions, corporations and family offices. The innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, unites competitors and partners to tackle complex material challenges and implement systemic change to advance circularity. The operating group, Circular Services, has twelve recycling facilities in operation today, and provides holistic, circular materials management to close the loop on valuable materials for municipalities and businesses throughout the United States.

Closed Loop Partners is based in New York City and is a registered B Corp. For more information, please visit www.closedlooppartners.com.

About Piper Sandler Merchant Banking

Piper Sandler Merchant Banking (PSMB) is the growth equity investment arm of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR). Our team strives to partner with founders and CEOs of growing, commercial stage businesses that can benefit by leveraging Piper Sandler’s knowledge, experience, capital and relationships to build market leading enterprises. PSMB provides investment advisory services through the affiliated registered investment adviser, PSC Capital Partners LLC.  Learn more about Piper Sandler Merchant Banking.

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.