Circulate Capital, a Singapore-based investment management company focused on combating plastic in the oceans and advancing the circular economy, has announced its first investments in two plastic recycling companies in India and Indonesia, for a total of USD 6 million. The investments will be made through the Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF), which is dedicated to fighting the ocean plastic crisis in South and South East Asia, and will have a total of USD 106 million to deploy.
Circulate Capital’s founding investors are multinationals such as PepsiCo, its main investor, Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Co., etc. which have pledged technical and procurement expertise on top of capital, to help the fund’s portfolio scale and drive maximum impact. The company invests in and supports start-ups, organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises across the entire plastic value chain, from innovations in material to advanced recycling technologies. ICCOF was established in early 2019.
The Indonesian company which received the investment is Tridi Oasis, a female-led recycling company aiming to turn problems in waste management into opportunities through recycling local plastic waste into usable raw materials. Established in 2016, Tridi Oasis produces recycled PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) flakes which can be transformed into sustainable packaging and textiles.
The Indian company is a homegrown manufacturer that developed an integrated process to collect, sort and recycle difficult-to-manage flexible plastic for its own production of flexible products (such as shrink wrap and films) and to sell as high-quality recycled plastic granules to manufacturers across the country.
South Asia and Southeast Asia, regions that contribute disproportionately to ocean plastic pollution primarily because they often lack investment in critical waste and recycling infrastructure to manage the problem. Between 55 and 60% of plastic waste entering the oceans comes from just five countries, including four in the South East Asian region: Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Sources: Recycling Today; Circulate Capital)
