Upcycling technology company MacroCycle has accumulated $6.5 million in seed funding to commercialize its efforts to keep plastic waste out of landfills.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup, which develops novel PET and polyester textile waste upcycling solutions, plans to use the funding to grow its operation by 50 percent. MacroCycle aims to scale its pilot plant facilities to develop upcycled PET and polyester resin. Clean Energy Ventures and Volta Circle—which is backed by the founders of global PET production and recycling leader Indorama Ventures—led the financing round, with KDT Ventures and Neotribe Ventures chipping in as well.
Related Stories
According to a study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, plastic production and disposal accounts for more than 5 percent of global carbon emissions. Only 15 percent of plastics are recycled, with the remainder ending up in landfills, waterways or incinerators.
“Global plastic waste is expected to triple in the next 40 years, and current mechanical and chemical recycling methods are not able to deliver viable solutions to process plastics and textiles waste streams,” said Temple Fennell, managing partner, Clean Energy Ventures. “MacroCycle’s solution to upcycle plastics tackles an increasingly severe waste issue to create an economically and environmentally circular plastics supply chain.”
MacroCycle co-founder and CTO Jan-Georg Rosenboom worked with colleagues at MIT, ETH Zurich and Politecnio Di Milano to develop a technology that upgrades plastic waste into its previous virgin-grade form, using a mix of chemistry and non-toxic reagents that require 80 percent less energy than fossil-based PET production. The process also comes with a 50 percent to 75 percent lower capital expenditure than competing chemical or biologic recycling methods.
“There is a $700 billion linear plastics market opportunity, but today’s advanced recycling technologies are too expensive to build and operate, and still yield low-value products. MacroCycle’s technology provides a more efficient process to produce high-quality plastic that can be adopted as a drop-in solution competitive with fossil fuel-based plastic,” said Stwart Peña Feliz, CEO of MacroCycle. “Our technology will be a key enabler for plastic circularity, as we allow our customers and suppliers to unlock the economic benefits of recycling.”
MacroCycle received early support from the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, which allowed the company to scale its initial technology from lab-scale beakers to a pilot plant reactor running at The Engine Accelerator’s facilities in Cambridge.
With this additional funding, MacroCycle expects to recycle not only PET bottles, but also polyester textile waste from customers in the fashion, home goods, cosmetics, textiles, and food and beverage industries. The company’s first pilot plant will support large-scale production of bottles and garments made entirely of recycled PET resin.
“MacroCycle’s superior unit economics, energy efficiency, and ability to upcycle low-grade feedstocks gives them a critical competitive advantage in a sector that calls for innovation,” said Catia Cesari, managing partner of Volta Circle. “The team, its technology and its ambition perfectly encapsulate our mission to back the best founders leading the way in the circular economy and we’re delighted to be supporting MacroCycle as it scales and creates genuine global impact.”
