The fund support businesses scaling up advanced recycling technologies and found in Clariter, which converts plastic waste for use as inputs in industrial and consumer products, an “ideal partner”
The Circular Plastics Fund, managed by Dutch impact investment firm Infinity Recycling, has announced an investment in recycling firm Clariter, a Luxembourg-registered company that converts plastic waste for use as inputs in industrial and consumer products.
Plastics recycling is becoming a focus for sustainable investors seeking to make in-roads into a growing problem. The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as 20 years ago, with only 9% being successfully recycled and most of it still ending up in landfill, being incinerated or leaking into the environment, according to an OECD report published in February.
The Circular Plastics Fund’s aim to support businesses scaling up their proven, advanced recycling technologies, made Clariter an ideal partner, according to Infinity.
Jan Willem Muller, Infinity’s managing partner, said Clariter’s technology differentiated itself within the plastics recycling industry by making end-products that can be directly used in consumer products manufacturing, reducing market dependency on fossil feedstocks.
“Having followed Clariter’s evolution over the last few years, we are delighted to see the strides the company has made in developing its business, as well as their ESG focus, which we are eager to help Clariter mature in line with the sustainability principles that underpin the Circular Plastics Fund,” he said.
The investment, whose size was not disclosed, was made under Article 9 of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the most rigorous green classification for sustainable investments.
Recycling technology
Clariter says its chemical recycling technology is able to convert most plastic waste streams into high-value products such as oils, waxes, and solvents that can be used as inputs for more than 1,000 sustainable industrial and consumer products.
Infinity Recycling is one of a number of organisations that have invested or forged partnerships with Clariter over recent months.
In early October 2022, Clariter and Rotterdam-based Count Energy Trading announced an agreement worth up to €1.5bnfor Clariter to supply sustainable products made from recycled plastic waste to the petrochemical industry. The cooperation period will last at least five years.
Clariter is currently developing its first four commercial plants in Europe and the Middle East with the first expected to be operational by the end of 2025. Clariter’s CEO, Ran Sharon, said the Circular Plastics Fund’s investment would accelerate its expansion.
“Clariter is on the cusp of a new phase in its evolution, with its impending global rollout and rapid growth. We have spent 19 years perfecting our technology to create a viable solution to plastic waste, creating high-quality, high-value products from most types of plastic waste using a highly efficient process with minimal waste and emissions” he said.
This latest investment by Infinity follows on from the Circular Plastic’s Fund’s first investment, in May 2022, when it invested €6.3m to acquire a 20% stake in Pryme, which is developing Europe’s single largest plastic waste advanced recycling project in Rotterdam.
The fund achieved its first close in February 2022, with investors including US petrochemicals firms Chevron Phillips Chemical and LyondellBasell, Singapore-based global materials organisation Indorama, and Dutch investment agency Invest-NL committing over €40m.
