Circulate Capital has invested in two plastic recycling companies in India and Indonesia with a total investment of $6 million (£4.83 million).
Its Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF) is the world’s first fund dedicated to the ocean plastics crisis in Asia.
CCOF is backed by companies including PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Chanel, Unilever, Coca-Cola and Chevron Phillips Chemical and has a value of $116 million (£93.03 million).
The fund has invested in Lucro Plastecycle in Mumbai, India and PT Tridi Oasis Group in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Lucro is an Indian manufacturer that has developed an integrated process to collect, sort and recycle difficult to manage flexible plastics for its own production of shrink wrap and films. It also sells high-quality granules to manufacturers across India.
Tridi Oasis is a female-led Indonesian company specialising in recycling PET bottles into rPET flakes which are used to manufacture packaging and textiles.
Circulate Capital chief executive Rob Kaplan said: “If the current health and economic crisis has taught us anything, it’s that we need to future proof our local supply chains and economies.
“The resilience of critical infrastructure like waste and recycling goes hand-in-hand with
protecting the health and livelihoods of our communities. By investing in small and medium-sized businesses that reduce plastic pollution and advance the circular economy, we can build sustainable businesses that can endure through a crisis.”
