Page 28 - Plastics News February 2023

Recycleye grabs $17M, calling plastic crisis a OQ polymers meet
‘tremendous business opportunity’ soaring demand in Asia,

due to India-Oman
partnership

Q, the Oman-based energy
Otransition enabler that special-
ighlighting the plastic industry’s to the plastic that enters the environ- izes in PP and PE grades for flexible
Hinfamous track record on recy- ment,” the Center for International and rigid packaging solutions, con-
cling, London-based Recycleye says it Environmental Law wrote in 2019. tinues building on a long-lived trad-
ing partnership between its home
raised $17 million in new funding led Plastic pollution — a major climate country and India as the company
by “deep tech” investor DCVC. change driver — is rising, too. That greets familiar faces at the PlastIndia
The startup claims its recycling-pick- is due in part to shortfalls in “waste event in New Delhi this week, said
ing robots can identify materials “at an management and recycling,” OECD, Hydrocarbonprocessing.
unrivaled 60 frames per second” and an intergovernmental body, said last Oman’s total trade with India almost
sort them more accurately than hu- year. The group concluded that some- doubled last year and was estimated
mans can. Ultimately, the startup says one needs to “create a separate and at USD9.9 B in 2021- 2022 com-
its tech cuts the “cost of sorting ma- well-functioning market for recycled pared to USD5.4 B in 2020-2021.
terials.” Tech Crunch has reached out plastics.” OQ believes the trade opportunities
to the company for information on its The trouble is: Sorting, melting and will only further prosper as India's
projected cost savings.
ultimately reusing most plastic — population, its demand for plastic
Based in Palo Alto, DCVC says its which you can only recycle a couple products and countries’ collabora-
mission is to “multiply the benefits of of times — is way costlier than buying tions continue to grow momentum.
capitalism for everyone while reduc- virgin plastic. Much of the time, we An advantageous prospect of a free
ing its costs.” Climate tech is one of its simply don’t do it. Most plastic (about trade agreement between the two
focuses, and one lens through which 91%, per OECD) is not recycled and countries is in the works, with dis-
we can see capitalism’s environmen- single-use plastic production is at an cussions at an advanced stage. The
tal toll. In the case of plastics, the oil all-time high. Indian sub-continent is one of the
industry has long preached the virtues By focusing on speeding up scanning, fastest-growing regions for polymer
of plastic recycling, while doubting identifying and sorting used materials, demand with a CAGR of 6 per cent
its economic viability, in order to sell Recycleye is one among many com- projected for the 2022-2030 pe-
more virgin plastic. riod.
panies that are attempting to fix part
Every stage of plastic production dis- of this broken system with AI. Cit- In addition, by mid-2023, India is
rupts the climate and natural world, ing OECD’s report, Recycleye said, expected to become the most pop-
from “the extraction and transport “Changing this wasteful and environ- ulous country in the world – and
with rising income levels being seen
of the fossil fuels that are the primary mentally damaging dynamic, seen across the region, demand for plas-
feedstocks for plastic, to refining and across a range of materials, presents tic products is set to increase expo-
manufacturing, to waste management, a tremendous business opportunity.”
nentially.

30 PLASTICS NEWS February 2023