Trenton, New Jersey-based TerraCycle has completed a Series A “Founding Investors” capital raise of $25 million for its global reuse platform Loop. Investors include P&G, Nestlé, SUEZ, Aptar, Sky Ocean Ventures, ImpactAssets and Quadia.
“Given Loop’s global momentum and the limited amount of capital being raised, it was important for us to pick partners who firmly believe in Loop’s mission to establish modern-day reuse systems,” said Tom Szaky, TerraCycle CEO. “With this community of partners, Loop is the beginning of the end of disposability, making reuse a viable and accessible option for CPGs, retailers and consumers.”
Loop was founded and is managed by TerraCycle, which operates specialty recycling services in 20 countries. TerraCycle works with leading consumer product companies, retailers, cities and facilities to recycle products and packages that would otherwise be incinerated, including contact lenses, beauty care, coffee capsules, oral care, cigarette butts and PPE.
“P&G has successfully partnered with TerraCycle for over a decade. This led to P&G becoming the first investor and the first consumer packaged goods company to participate in Loop, with several of our leading global brands, including Pantene. Today’s announcement is an important milestone in our mission to enable responsible consumption at scale,” said Robert van Pappelendam, SVP of global hair care, Procter & Gamble.
“We believe the time is now to create disruptive actions that drive the mindset shift required for truly responsible consumption. Creating products that work well is not enough: they must also respect the environment and improve our quality of life.”
Launched in May 2019, Loop enables consumers to shop for products in durable packaging that is used, cleaned, refilled and used again, and then fully recyclable after 20 to 100 uses. With Loop, TerraCycle says brands can develop more valuable and distinctive products and packaging as well as provide consumers with more beautiful, functional and “milk-man model” deposit/return packaging. To date, Loop has enlisted over 100 brands globally and offers approximately 400 products.
“Reusability involves profound changes in the way people shop and consume. In collaboration with Loop, we have been introducing reusable option to our consumers for different types of products including ice cream, water and pet care,” said Antonia Wanner, head of environmental, social and governance strategy and deployment unit at Nestlé. “This new investment in Loop will help accelerate the delivery of products in zero-waste packaging. Reusable option is an important part of Nestlé’s broader set of actions to meet our commitment of making 100 percent of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.”
“As a long-term partner of TerraCycle, SUEZ is delighted to support Loop initiative for reducing packaging waste and working for a more circular economy,” said Jean-Marc Boursier, SUEZ Group COO. “SUEZ is an innovative and resilient solutions provider in waste recovery. Loop is an expression of our strong commitment to implement our zero residual waste ambition.”
“As a media-powered impact investment fund, that is part of Sky’s broader mission to help us all eradicate our dependence on single use plastics, it is a huge step to see these global CPGs come onboard to support Loop’s plans and scale up the service,” said Jamie Rowles, head of investment, Sky Ocean Ventures.
Loop is available in the continental U.S., the UK and France. By the end of 2021, Loop will also be operating in Canada, Japan and Australia and sold in approximately 1,000 retail stores in five countries.
“Our partnership with Loop represents our vision, and our customers’ vision, for a more circular economy where packaging does not become waste,” said Stephan B. Tanda, Aptar president and CEO. “Participating in Loop is one-way Aptar can help lead the essential and overdue packaging transition from disposable to reusable.”
As a zero-waste circular system that enables circular exchanges between manufacturers, retailers and consumers, Loop is another way that TerraCycle works to eliminate waste in collaboration with the key players in the consumption cycle. The company is developing other solutions to reduce and eliminate waste to coincide with a global green recovery after COVID-19 and has just launched a capital raise of $150 million in TerraCycle, Inc., the global parent company to help with that effort.
