March 25, 2025, New York, NY – Today, Closed Loop Partners publishes new data revealing high volumes of recycled food-grade polypropylene (PP) captured at materials recovery facilities (MRFs). The study, led by the Closed Loop Foundation and Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, in collaboration with technology company Greyparrot and four U.S. MRFs, leveraged AI-powered vision systems to characterize the PP recycling stream with unprecedented detail. These results fill data gaps on the availability of food-grade PP, which can create new opportunities to return this material to foodservice packaging supply chains.

The findings are released amidst growing demand for recycled food-grade PP, driven by policy shifts­­––including recycled content mandates and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)––and commitments from brands to incorporate more recycled materials in their packaging. Despite increased market demand, there has been a significant lack of data on the available volumes of recycled food-grade PP in the recycling system. With no easy way to track, differentiate and separate food-grade and non-food-grade PP, these materials typically blend together at MRFs, making it challenging to amass the appropriate quantities of food-grade PP to meet growing market demand.

With funding from the NextGen Consortium and the Closed Loop Foundation, the Center for the Circular Economy teamed up with Greyparrot and four MRFs to reveal what was in the PP recycling stream, including the volume of food-grade and non-food-grade items, as well as color, format and other critical identifying features. Nearly 45 million individual PP and non-PP objects were characterized over the course of the study, revealing newfound granular details on the PP comprising the stream.

The study revealed 3 key findings:

1. Clear and white food-grade PP is abundant: On average, more than 75% of the PP captured in the study was white or clear, most of which was also presumed to be food grade. Furthermore, over 30% of clear PP packaging identified were beverage cups. This has important implications for meeting growing food-grade PP demand and how to retain more value in the system.

2. AI-enabled technologies can reliably quantify and classify recyclables with granularity, at scale: AI systems, such as the Greyparrot Analyzer, proved reliable in providing effective material characterization data at previously unavailable scales. This indicates the potential for AI to drive value to MRFs through increased intelligence and data granularity on material flows.

3. AI can help measure and track facility and equipment performance: Upgrades to optical sortation technology at MRFs had a notable impact on improved material sortation. This was progress that the AI technology was able to track and provide critical analytics on, indicating the potential for AI to offer enhanced performance evaluation data for MRF operators.

“The data captured demonstrates what is possible for the future of recycling and circular materials management, when powered by technology that can enhance transparency in the recycling system and increase high-quality material recovery,” said Kate Daly, Managing Partner and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “As we continue our work with many of the world’s largest retailers and foodservice brands, we look forward to identifying more opportunities to pull valuable food-grade materials back into foodservice packaging supply chains––a critical step toward recycled content goals and packaging circularity.”

“This work provides important data and transparency around the performance of AI technology and its capabilities within MRFs. We are proud to contribute critical data on the presence and quantity of food-grade objects within the PP stream,” said Gaspard Duthilleul, COO of Greyparrot. “In just three months, Greyparrot Analyzers characterized over 45 million PP and non-PP materials—a process that would take nearly four years manually, as manually characterizing just 1,000 pounds of material can take an entire day. This scale uncovers new opportunities for data collection at recycling facilities, serving as the foundation for increased recovery of valuable materials.”

While the characterization study focused on uncovering better data at one node of the PP recycling value chain, the results underscore that strong recycling data can enhance recovery opportunities and create new value up and down the recycling system.

These insights lay the groundwork for additional studies that can generate new, valuable recovery opportunities further downstream. Moving forward, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy will continue to identify opportunities to leverage new data and innovations to advance material recovery with the recycling industry and global retail and foodservice brands.

This collaborative work aims to drive greater recovery of food-grade polypropylene––and other materials––and keep these valuable resources in circulation in local supply chains. To learn more and to visit closedlooppartners.com/center

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy is the innovation arm of Closed Loop Partners, a firm at the forefront of building the circular economy. The Center executes research and analytics, unites organizations to tackle complex material challenges and implements systemic change that advances the circular economy. The Center for the Circular Economy’s expertise spans circularity across the full lifecycle of materials, connecting upstream innovation to downstream recovery infrastructure and end markets. Learn more about the Center for the Circular Economy at closedlooppartners.com/the-center

About Greyparrot

Greyparrot (greyparrot.ai), the leader in AI waste analytics, is applying AI to globally scale recycling and save millions of tons of waste from landfills and incinerators. By providing deeper, more intelligent insights about waste stream composition and value, Greyparrot is helping the waste sector recover more value from waste processing lines and reduce the environmental impact of waste.

The company’s waste intelligence platform, including Greyparrot Analyzer and Greyparrot Sync (API), reveals real-time insights on over 111+ waste categories across seven layers of data, including financial value, brand, and GHG emissions, captured at multiple locations across a recycling facility. In 2024, Greyparrot analyzed over 40 billion waste objects helping drive efficiency to save hundreds of thousands, to millions, of dollars per facility — while diverting millions of tons of waste away from landfills, oceans, and incinerators.

Using Greyparrot insights, recycling professionals, plant builders, packaging producers, and FMCG brands can make decisions to help them increase recycling efficiency, comply with recycling regulations, and improve recyclable packaging design.

February 20, 2025, New York, NY – Today, Closed Loop Partners’ portfolio company, Sage Sustainable Electronics (“Sage”), announces their acquisition of IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) company, Cascade Asset Management (“Cascade”). Cascade is a longstanding leader in the IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) industry, providing hardware asset lifecycle management, reuse, refurbishment and disposition services. Following its acquisition of Cascade, Sage Sustainable Electronics becomes one of the largest pure ITAD service providers in the United States.

The acquisition takes place amidst increasing demand to bring valuable electronics––and their critical mineral components––back into circulation for reuse in domestic supply chains in the U.S. The acquisition accelerates Sage’s path to becoming the leading platform within the ITAD industry, servicing major corporations through IT asset recovery and lifecycle extension. The acquisition was completed through Closed Loop Partners’ buyout private equity group focused on buying and building platforms to advance a circular economy.

Closed Loop Partners first joined forces with Sage in 2023 as a majority shareholder in the company, aiming to accelerate the company’s growth and strengthen its position as a leading provider of sustainable ITAD services in North America. Since then, Sage has been at the forefront of advancing a circular economy for electronics. The company provides secure reuse and recovery solutions to businesses seeking to sustainably dispose of their IT assets.

Today, Sage faces an evolving IT industry. Responding to pressures for improved materials recovery and cost efficiency, device lifecycles are being extended, with an average refresh cycle by IT departments of two years for smart phones, four years for laptops and five years for printers. Amidst increasing demand for services to extend the lifecycle of electronic devices, Sage completed its acquisition of Cascade, bolstering capabilities including de-manufacturing and reuse, and increasing reusability yield.

“Cascade is among the most respected IT Asset Disposition companies in the industry, bringing over two decades of experience and a comprehensive suite of electronics recovery solutions that complement Sage’s growing platform,” said Bob Houghton, CEO of Sage Sustainable Electronics. “This marks an important milestone for Sage, as we accelerate progress toward increased market reach and scaled impact. We are thrilled to join forces with Cascade, an experienced operator in the industry, expanding our platform to keep more electronics in circulation across industries.”

Founded in 1999, Cascade brings over 25 years of experience as an industry-leading IT Asset Disposition company, headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. The company’s services include reuse, refurbishment, de-manufacturing, recycling and resale, providing additional scale, capabilities and human resources to Sage’s platform. Cascade brings in a strong customer base in the healthcare, manufacturing and technology sectors, creating opportunities to advance circularity across more industries. With facilities in Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida, Cascade further expands Sage’s national footprint, deepening exposure in the Midwest and providing new exposure in the Southeast.

“We are proud to join forces with Sage Sustainable Electronics, growing their platform as one of the largest pure IT Asset Disposition service providers in the U.S.,” said Neil Peters-Michaud, Founder & CEO of Cascade. “Our aligned mission, complementary services and geographic footprint accelerate shared goals to transform the ITAD industry and meet growing demand for electronics recovery across industries. Together, we can reach more markets, laying the groundwork for greater impact.”

Closed Loop Partners’ buyout private equity group employs a buy-and-build strategy to partner with companies and scale platforms and enabling technologies across plastics & packaging, organics, circular technology, the built environment and textiles. The group aims to develop, accelerate and modernize circular supply chains and recycling & reuse infrastructure. The investment to support Sage’s acquisition of Cascade builds on Closed Loop Partners’ robust portfolio of investments to advance circularity for electronics––one of the firm’s key focus areas, alongside packaging, textiles, organics and more. Closed Loop Partners’ broader portfolio of investments in electronics circularity spans IT asset management and disposition, disassembly and remanufacturing, collection and reuse, and end-of-life electronics recycling.

“Closed Loop Partners is proud to back Sage Sustainable Electronics’ acquisition of Cascade Asset Management. Cascade’s experience and reach strengthens Sage’s position as a leading IT Asset Disposition provider, with extensive capabilities to serve diverse locations and industries––from healthcare, to technology, to manufacturing,” said Jackson Pei, Managing Director and Co-head of Closed Loop Partners’ buyout private equity group. “We look forward to supporting Sage’s continued expansion to bring more electronics back in circulation, keeping them within domestic supply chains and out of landfills.”

Following the acquisition, Sage will continue to grow its services and geographic footprint, positioning the company for wider reach.

To learn more about Closed Loop Partners, please visit here.

To learn more about Sage Sustainable Electronics, please visit here.

To learn more about Cascade Asset Management, please visit here.

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The firm is comprised of three key businesses that create a platform for systems change: an investment group managing venture capital, buyout private equity and catalytic private credit investment strategies, Closed Loop Capital Management; an innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy; and an operating group, Closed Loop Builders.

The firm’s lower mid-market buyout private equity investment strategy, the Closed Loop Leadership Group, seeks to make control investments in cash flowing businesses and enabling technologies to scale platforms that are fundamental to the circular economy. The Closed Loop Leadership Group is focused on areas including plastics & packaging, electronics, organics, the built environment, healthcare and the energy transition. With a buy-and-build strategy, the team brings active capital solutions, operating experience, circularity expertise and the strategic network of the Closed Loop Partners ecosystem to capture opportunities for growth and accelerate the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners is based in New York City and is a registered B Corp.

To learn about the Closed Loop Leadership Group, visit www.closedlooppartners.com.

About Sage Sustainable Electronics

Sage Sustainable Electronics, based in Columbus, Ohio is a leading provider of IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services, safely and securely refurbishing used IT assets for another life. Co-founded in 2014 by CEO Bob Houghton, Sage’s platform has expanded to include four national repurposing facilities across three states, processing nearly one million assets annually. Sage extends the useful life and increases the recovery value of IT assets for its clients, which include Fortune 100 companies across various industries, including finance, healthcare and defense.

About Cascade Asset Management

Cascade Asset Management, based in Madison, Wisconsin, has provided secure and environmentally responsible IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services since 1999. Founded by Neil and Jessica Peters-Michaud, the company has since grown to operate full-scale refurbishment and demanufacturing facilities in Madison, Indianapolis, and Orlando. Cascade leverages its fleet of vehicles and field service professionals to offer an industry-leading secure chain of custody to transport assets efficiently from client locations to its certified processing facilities. The company has processed more than 115 million pounds of electronics from businesses, institutions, and individuals across the U.S.

Disclosure

This publication is for informational purposes only, and nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any interest in any investment vehicle managed by Closed Loop Capital Management or any company in which Closed Loop Capital Management or its affiliates have invested. An offer or solicitation will be made only through a final private placement memorandum, subscription agreement and other related documents with respect to a particular investment opportunity and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such documents, including the qualifications necessary to become an investor. Closed Loop Capital Management does not utilize its website to provide investment or other advice, and nothing contained herein constitutes a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed or the law relating thereto. Information provided reflects Closed Loop Capital Management’s views as of a particular time and are subject to change without notice. You should obtain relevant and specific professional advice before making any investment decision. Certain information on this Website may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties and speak only as of the date on which they are made. The words “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “optimistic”, “intend”, “aim”, “will” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Closed Loop Capital Management undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Past performance is not indicative of future results; no representation is being made that any investment or transaction will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those achieved in the past, or that significant losses will be avoided.

NEW YORK, Feb. 19, 2025 — Today, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy unveils major pioneering findings in a new report on small-format plastic packaging recovery. The report builds on over two years of market research and comprehensive recycling tests in partnership with Maybelline New York and its parent company, L’Oréal Groupe, bolstered by the support of additional partners Kraft Heinz, P&G and Target.

The findings reveal a viable pathway to recover tens of thousands of tons of valuable small materials––including plastics like polypropylene––from materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and glass recycling plants across the U.S. With the right equipment upgrades and reconfigurations, significant volumes of these materials can be successfully recycled instead of being lost to waste. For example, upgrading the glass screen—a type of material sorting equipment—at a MRF resulted in a 67% relative reduction in mid-to-large-sized “small” plastics contaminating the glass stream. Materials that would have otherwise been considered contaminants and discarded at the glass recycling plant are now effectively sorted and directed into appropriate bales for sale in the recycled materials market. These promising findings demonstrate the positive economic and environmental impact of recovering small-format packaging, catalyzing the launch of a new industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy: the Consortium to Recover Small-Format Packaging.

Each year, consumers buy billions of products—beauty items, medications and food—packaged in small-format plastic that is difficult to recycle due to its size and other factors. Currently, most of this is discarded into trash bins, ending up in landfills or incinerators. The small fraction that does end up at recycling facilities often slips through sorting equipment due to its size, contaminating the glass stream and ultimately being sent to landfills. As brands work to meet waste reduction goals and achieve compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility legislation, the opportunity to capture previously unrecovered small-format plastic packaging can have a significant positive impact.

The Center for the Circular Economy conducted its research in collaboration with Circular Services, a Closed Loop Partners company. Circular Services operates over 20 MRFs across the U.S. and manages municipal contracts in major and rapidly growing cities, including New York City, Austin, San Antonio and Phoenix. With support from partners Maybelline New York and its parent company, L’Oréal Groupe, Kraft Heinz, P&G and Target, the Center conducted an extensive, in-field process to identify solutions for small-format packaging recovery. This included evaluating glass stream contamination at more than half a dozen MRFs across the U.S. The Center collected samples from two MRFs’ glass streams and one glass recycling plant’s residue streams; trialed equipment configurations to sort plastics from these streams; sent samples to reclaimers to test their processability and market value; and iterated this process multiple times.

The report highlights five key insights critical to the recovery of small-format packaging:

• Many small format plastic materials hold significant market value
• Logistical solutions already exist to handle them
• Current technologies can be adapted to effectively recover portions of them at MRFs and glass recycling plants
• Market demand for these materials is strong—especially from mechanical recyclers
• Targeted investment at recycling facilities is essential to build a compelling, scalable business case to recover smaller materials

These findings can apply to recycling facilities across the country, meaning tens of thousands of tons of plastics could be recovered annually, avoiding landfill and generating market value.

The Center for the Circular Economy’s new findings lay the necessary groundwork and provide the rigorous diligence needed for the creation of a new industry consortium, the Consortium for Small-Format Packaging Recovery. The Consortium is focused on advancing the recovery of small-format packaging by testing the Center’s latest findings in real-world scenarios across the U.S. The Center is inviting research-phase partners to join, while also expanding participation to brands across various sectors. This is a cross-industry challenge, as small-format packaging is used in beauty, pharmacy, foodservice, beverage, retail and beyond.

One next step to build upon the findings is investment in equipment and infrastructure upgrades for rigid small plastics recovery in the field. The Center for the Circular Economy anticipates a quantifiable tonnage of materials diverted from landfill, carbon emissions avoided and post-consumer recycled content generated. The Consortium will lead the establishment and engagement of a robust value chain for recovery of small materials, from recyclers, reclaimers, policymakers and more.

If your company is part of the small-format packaging value chain—whether as a manufacturer, brand owner or other stakeholder—and is interested in joining the Consortium to Recover Small-Format Packaging to advance collaboration, recycling infrastructure investments and policy for nationwide recovery, contact the Center for the Circular Economy here.

“We’re eager to put our findings to the test and, through the Consortium to Recover Small-Format Packaging, deploy equipment and infrastructure upgrades to drive real-world proof-of-concepts in the field. It’s critical that we advance solutions to recover valuable small-format materials, like polypropylene, that otherwise typically end up in landfill. This is inherently a cross-industry challenge, as small-format packaging is used in beauty, pharmacy, foodservice, beverage, retail and beyond. We’re inviting our research-phase partners and brands across various sectors to join the Consortium and help address an urgent waste challenge.” Kate Daly, Managing Partner, Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy

“L’Oréal is excited to partner with Closed Loop Partners to develop innovative solutions for recovering packaging materials, reducing waste and creating opportunities in a fragmented national recycling infrastructure. Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy provides practical and scalable approaches for recovering small-format plastics that end up in landfills. We believe scaling these innovations will improve the recyclability of plastic and create a viable end-market for our materials.” Marissa Pagnani McGowan – Chief Sustainability Officer, North America for L’Oréal Groupe

“As the number one makeup brand in the world, we have a responsibility to create the most sustainable makeup life cycle possible. Most makeup packaging is too small to be recycled, it literally falls through the cracks at recycling facilities. That’s why it was so important to partner with Closed Loop Partners’ Center for Circular Economy to pioneer solutions for small-format recycling and to help us and the beauty industry accelerate our sustainable transformation. We look forward to making progress together.” Trisha Ayyagari, Global Brand President, Maybelline New York

“At Kraft Heinz, we know collaboration is the key to unlocking solutions for the future of packaging. We are proud to partner with Closed Loop Partners on this groundbreaking research to advance packaging solutions, improve end-of-life recovery and enhance critical infrastructure. By working together, we can drive meaningful change and create a more sustainable future for food.” Linda Roman, Director of Packaging R&D and North America R&D Fellow, Kraft Heinz

About Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners is a trusted innovation and research hub, partnering with the world’s most influential organizations to solve their toughest material challenges.

As part of Closed Loop Partners’ platform, the Center identifies solutions, tests them in real-world settings and scales what works—transforming bold ideas into actionable, scalable strategies. Over the past seven years, the Center has led groundbreaking projects that reshape industries and redefine sustainability.

Learn more about the Center at closedlooppartners.com/thecenter.

Much has been written about why life cycle assessments (LCAs) matter––their role in helping companies choose between different materials and packaging formats, their ability to measure the climate impact of business decisions, even their ability to help evaluate environmental risks of new solutions. 

But the reality is, LCAs can become complex very quickly. They usually involve a multitude of assumptions and data––from the origins of materials (cradle) to how they are transported through complicated supply chains, all the way to how they are disposed of (grave) or recovered via reuse or recycling.  

Yet if navigated thoughtfully, LCAs are packed with a wealth of information for creating data-backed packaging strategies that contribute to waste reduction goals and advance positive climate impacts.  

Here, we share 8 tips to help brands navigate the most critical aspects of any packaging emissions analysis: 

1. Focus on the biggest drivers of impact: New materials often account for the majority of emissions. Keeping packaging in circulation for longer––thus avoiding the need for new materials––is a key driver to reduce the climate impact of packaging. For reusable containers, the return rate, and the associated number of uses tied to it, is the most critical factor to drive down packaging emissions. When one LCA assumes that a reusable container is used on average 100 times (99% return rate) and another assumes 2 times (50% return rate), emission outcomes will vary widely. 
2. Put some weight behind the weight of your packaging: Lightweighting is generally the lowest hanging fruit opportunity for companies to reduce their packaging impact. But there’s only so much a product can be lightweighted before this impacts its performance and recyclability. Today, new lightweighting innovations enable durability while not compromising on high packaging quality, functionality and recyclability, opening more opportunities for reduced emissions. 
3. Account for all distances of transportation, including transport to landfill: In the U.S., virgin materials usually travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from production sites to their point of sale. Materials that end up in landfill also travel hundreds of miles from point of consumption to their grave (over 500 miles on average in the case of New York City), but distances traveled to landfill are often overlooked in LCA analyses.  
4. Give thought to the food waste that packaging may carry to landfills: Food waste in food packaging decays over time and, in the absence of oxygen, creates methane in landfills. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is 28 times more potent than CO2 in trapping atmospheric heat. Any packaging system, such as reusable or compostable options, that serve as a vehicle to properly dispose of (i.e., compost) food scraps, and keep them out of landfills, has significantly reduced emissions compared to current single-use packaging systems. 
5. Consider the difference between recycling and use of recycled content: The GHG Protocol has two methods for calculating recycling emissions. One method benefits packaging that uses recycled content; the other benefits products that are recycled at end-of-life. Since we need both things to be true to create a truly circular economy, focus on designing packaging that meets both criteria. For LCAs, consider using an average of both calculations. 
6. Don’t discount impact through incineration: The emissions impact of incineration is left out of many LCAs. In today’s carbon accounting protocols, incineration emissions (i.e., the energy produced from incineration) are accounted for in their next product, thus burning packaging after use does not add to the emissions of that piece of packaging. While this can seem to provide a discount towards packaging emissions, this is not a circular strategy as valuable packaging materials are lost instead of kept in circulation. 
7. Assess the implication of clean grids: Switching to clean energy is an immediate opportunity to reduce packaging emissions. However, when analyzing the impact of clean grids, remember to apply the benefits of lower manufacturing and transportation emissions to incumbent materials and processes as well.   
8. Remember that infrastructure assets do not impact emissions directly: Emissions associated with bins, machines and other capital infrastructure are not typically included in packaging LCAs, based on the GHG Protocol. Incumbent solutions like landfilling have infrastructure associated with them as well, and are not included in LCAs, so new infrastructure for future solutions should be held to the same standard as existing infrastructure.

LCAs are just one datapoint within the larger equation 

When implementing any packaging solution, emissions are just one part of the equation—packaging decisions affect our planet beyond their climate impact. Waste generated, water usage, biodiversity loss, social and human health risks are all critical aspects to be assessed for a responsible and sustainable circular packaging strategy. 

We hope these LCA tips help packaging designers and decision makers make more holistic analyses, leading to greener packaging innovation.

Get in touch with Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy at [email protected] to dive deeper into packaging emissions and to collaborate on designing, testing and scaling circular packaging solutions.  

Findings are based on the Center for the Circular Economy’s proprietary LCA model. A special thank you to our partners at Columbia University for their contributions to this work. 

May 7, 2024, New York, NY — Today, the NextGen Consortium, an industry collaboration managed by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, joined the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) in announcing a major milestone in paper cup recycling in the U.S. Multiple paper mills, from Georgia to Wisconsin, have announced that they will now accept single-use polyethylene (PE)-coated paper cups in bales of mixed paper or polycoat cartons and aseptic packaging. This brings the total number of North American mills accepting paper cups to more than 40, marking significant progress as demand for recycled fiber content grows in the U.S., amidst increasing sustainability commitments and policy tailwinds. The new mills to accept cups include Newman and Company, Inc., Philadelphia, PA; PaperWorks Industries, Wabash, IN; Resolute Forest Products, Menominee Mill, MI; Greif Mill Group in Austell, GA and Milwaukee, WI, among others listed in FPI’s end market map.

Every year, an estimated 250 billion cups are used globally—the majority of which end up in landfills after a single-use. Historically, paper cups had been deemed ‘unrecyclable’ because of their plastic lining, resulting in low recovery rates and valuable materials ending up in landfill. In recent years, as mills compete for diminishing supplies of newspapers and office paper in the recycling system, there has been growing interest in opportunities to recover material categories that contain high-quality fiber, such as paper cups. Many mills––especially new and retrofitted builds––have undertaken repulpability studies to determine whether they can successfully recover the valuable fiber from coated paper packaging, such as fiber cups, for use in recycled fiber products. Positive outcomes of the studies have led to higher acceptance of fiber cups at mills. According to FPI, the dozens of paper mills that now accept paper cups in mixed paper bales represent more than 75 percent of U.S. mixed paper processing demand.

By accepting recovered paper materials, including cups, and reprocessing them into new products, mills play a pivotal role in advancing the larger paper cup recovery process. As more mills effectively recover fiber from paper cups, cup recycling is incentivized further upstream in materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and communities looking to improve their waste diversion efforts. While only 11 percent of communities in the U.S. officially accept cups in their residential recycling programs today, the increasing number of mills that accept cups signals a greater opportunity to grow cup recycling efforts.

“Alongside advancing reuse and material innovation, strengthening paper cup recovery and recycling is critical to keeping cups from going to waste in landfills,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “Paper mills play a critical role in strengthening end markets for cups. By pulling materials through the system, mills accepting cups can drive increased cup processing in recycling facilities and cup collection in communities. We are thrilled to see cup recovery reach this important milestone in the United States, moving us closer to a waste-free future.”

For several years, the NextGen Consortium and Foodservice Packaging Institute have collaborated to strengthen existing materials recovery and recycling infrastructure to recapture more paper cups. Both organizations have released critical reports and research to guide paper cup recovery and recycling, such as NextGen’s report Closing the Loop on Cups and FPI’s White Paper on the The State of Paper Cup Recycling. While the challenges are significant, collaboration among various stakeholders involved in paper cup recovery can help address its scale and complexity.

“We are thrilled to work with a growing set of mills in their efforts to recover poly-coated paper cups,” says Natha Dempsey, President of FPI. “Reliable and responsible end markets for cups catalyze new opportunities for community partnerships, especially in regions that previously didn’t have the capability to recycle them.”

“The mix of recovered paper we receive has changed dramatically over the last several years, now including much more plastic that we have to separate in the repulping process. Paper cups contain good fiber and are no more difficult to recycle than many of the other prominent packaging categories we see today. We look forward to the value it will bring to our outputs at our mills in Austell, GA and Milwaukee, WI,” said Jeff Hilkert, VP Paperboard Sales of Greif Mill Group.”

In addition to working with the mills that are now accepting cups, the NextGen Consortium and FPI continue to work with several other interested mills to run studies that can help determine the viability of paper cups in their system. Furthermore, they are also working with groups up and down the value chain––including brands, MRFs and communities––to ensure more cups can be recycled, especially where viable and robust end markets exist. This collaborative work is a key step forward in increasing the supply of recycled content to meet growing demand, and reducing the amount of valuable materials being sent to landfill.

About the NextGen Consortium
The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year consortium that addresses single-use food packaging waste by advancing the design, commercialization and recovery of food packaging alternatives. The NextGen Consortium is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Starbucks and McDonald’s are the founding partners of the Consortium, with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo as sector lead partners. JDE Peet’s, Wendy’s and Yum! Brands are supporting partners. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the environmental advisory partner. Learn more at www.nextgenconsortium.com.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

The Center for the Circular Economy is the innovation arm of Closed Loop Partners, a firm at the forefront of building the circular economy. The Center executes research and analytics, unites organizations to tackle complex material challenges and implements systemic change that advances the circular economy. The Center for the Circular Economy’s expertise spans circularity across the full lifecycle of materials, connecting upstream innovation to downstream recovery infrastructure and end markets. Learn more about the Center for the Circular Economy at closedlooppartners.com/the-center/ 

About the Foodservice Packaging Institute
Founded in 1933, the Foodservice Packaging Institute is the trade association for the foodservice packaging industry in North America. FPI promotes the value and benefits of foodservice packaging and plays an active role in advancing the recovery of FSP to support the circular economy. The association serves as the industry’s leading authority to educate and influence stakeholders. Members include raw material and machinery suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and purchasers of foodservice packaging. For more information, visit www.FPI.org.

April 17, 2024, New York, NY –– Circular economy-focused investment firm Closed Loop Partners announces the closing of a catalytic loan to Olyns, a technology and media company that engineered a new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solution to improve the collection, sortation and recycling of consumer packaging. The financing from Closed Loop Partners’ private credit arm, the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, will support the manufacturing of Olyns’ Cubes––AI-powered reverse vending machines that collect and sort packaging materials, including food-grade plastic, glass and aluminum––and accelerate the expansion of Olyns’ consumer recycling infrastructure across the U.S.

Founded in 2019 in Silicon Valley, Olyns is increasing access to consumer recycling with an innovative technology solution that makes material collection efficient and scalable through a self-sustaining business model. Olyns’ AI-powered Cubes are a new take on reverse vending machines, where people deposit eligible beverage containers and receive cash deposits back electronically. Not only do Olyns’ Cubes provide rewards to incentivize participation and include a screen that can display media, but their machines also leverage AI, enabling them to rapidly learn to recognize new deposited products sold by brands at retailers across the country, as well as track deposit rates by product and brand. This is especially relevant amidst growing policy around materials recovery, such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Olyns currently partners with top retailers and consumer goods brands to locate their Cubes in high traffic locations such as major supermarkets, big box stores, pharmacies and gas stations, ensuring recycling is convenient and advertisements are effective. By operating as both a consumer recycling network and digital out-of-home media network, Olyns is changing the economics of recycling.

Source: Olyns

Olyns not only has the opportunity to collect millions of containers per year, but also to improve material sortation to maintain the quality of the recycled materials. By using AI to identify and sort containers at the point of deposit into separate bins, Olyns minimizes the co-mingling and contamination common to traditional recycling. This results in industry-leading material recovery rates and bale quality, ensuring that more containers deposited can be made into new containers. The vast majority of the rPET collected in Olyns’ Cubes is food-grade and can be used as material for recycled bottles.

“The material quality of aluminum, PET and glass beverage containers collected by the Olyns reverse vending machines is some of the highest quality material Ming’s facilities receive from our customers,” said Jeff Donlevy, General Manager of Ming’s Recycling Corp, a current processor of Olyns CRV material. “Mixed plastic material collected through co-mingled programs often can’t achieve the same quality standards, and significant amounts end up in landfill. Olyns’ technology minimizes co-mingling, and consistently achieves the food-grade quality material that plastic reclaimers want.”

As the Olyns network scales, it helps unlock a new supply of recyclable post-consumer plastic and aluminum, helping corporations meet their sustainable packaging goals and reducing their dependence on virgin plastic from non-renewable sources. As demand for food-grade rPET is anticipated to outpace supply by about three times by 2030, scaling solutions that can bolster supply of high-quality recycled content is critical. By expanding recycling access to more locations, Olyns’ Cube network collects and processes a growing portion of the estimated 4.6 billion pounds of unrecycled PET that would otherwise end up in landfill every year, closing the loop on food-grade PET and reducing carbon emissions that would result from the production of virgin plastic.

“Greater consumer access to recycling, more efficient material sortation and economically sound recycling systems are critical to recovering high-quality materials,” says Philip Stanger, Co-Founder and CEO of Olyns. “Since we installed our first Cube in California in 2020, user growth has been phenomenal, proving that when people have easy access to recycling, impact is magnified. While we started with collecting PET plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers, we are looking to build our AI capacity to potentially expand collection for hard-to-recycle materials, such as films and flexibles. Closed Loop Partners’ financing will help us build the circular economy infrastructure that helps make recycling possible for more materials, and accessible to more communities.”

The Closed Loop Infrastructure Group has been providing flexible loans to projects that build out circular economy infrastructure and innovation in the United States for nearly 10 years. This includes robust recycling infrastructure equipment, as well as rapidly growing companies poised to scale circular solutions. The loan to Olyns underscores the potential of new innovative solutions and creates a significant opportunity to increase material collection in underserved areas, including states without deposit return schemes such as bottle bills. By producing a source-separated, clean stream of materials, Olyns also helps bolster the market for high-quality recyclables, looping more material back into the same or similar products.

“We see immense opportunity to finance rapidly growing technology innovations, alongside large-scale recycling infrastructure, to improve materials sortation and accelerate the circular economy in the U.S. Expanding the types of financing available in the market can help meet the distinct needs of innovators developing new circular solutions. Catalytic capital is a powerful tool, providing the foundation needed to accelerate further growth,” says Jennifer Louie, Managing Director and Head of the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group at Closed Loop Partners. “Closed Loop Partners’ Infrastructure Group is proud to finance scalable and replicable solutions and provide access to the Closed Loop Partners ecosystem to support their growth. We are thrilled to partner with Olyns, as they disrupt material collection and advance more circular supply chains for valuable packaging materials.”

Moving forward, Olyns looks to further scale its solution, partnering with key brands to expand to new locations and increase collection and recovery of more materials, reducing reliance on natural resource extraction and driving forward a circular economy.

If you are interested in learning more about Olyns, visit here. If you are interested in applying for funding from the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, learn more about Closed Loop Partners’ catalytic capital strategy here.

About Olyns

Olyns innovates at the nexus of retail media and recycling, connecting people to recycling and brands to customers. Founded in 2019 in Silicon Valley, Olyns’ pioneering ecosystem includes the Cube, an AI-powered reverse vending machine that provides self-serve beverage container recycling to consumers and includes a 55-inch screen to display advertising. Olyns partners with top retailers and consumer goods brands to locate Cubes in high traffic locations such as major supermarkets, big box stores, pharmacies, and gas stations, ensuring recycling is convenient and advertisements are effective. By operating as both a consumer recycling network and digital out-of-home media network, Olyns is changing the economics of recycling. With its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and sort containers at point of deposit, Olyns minimizes the co-mingling and contamination common to traditional recycling and unlocks a valuable new supply of food-grade recycled plastic.

Olyns is on a mission to inspire people to recycle, stop the depletion of the earth’s resources, and accelerate the shift to a circular packaging economy. Learn more at www.olyns.com

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: its investment arm, Closed Loop Capital Management, managing venture capital, buyout private equity and catalytic private credit investment strategies; its innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy; and its operating group, Closed Loop Builders.

The firm’s catalytic private credit arm, the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, provides a mix of flexible financing solutions to support a range of circular economy projects, companies, infrastructure and enabling technologies. The Infrastructure Group deploys catalytic capital, which seeks to accelerate and de-risk the development of high-impact projects and companies. Areas of strategic investment include: providing below-market rate loans to finance circular infrastructure, providing catalytic financing to increase recovery of hard-to-recycle plastics and PET bottles, and financing and deploying small-scale, modular materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to increase recycling in communities with no or limited access to recycling.

Closed Loop Partners is based in New York City and is a registered B Corp. Learn more at closedlooppartners.com.

Disclaimer

This publication is for informational purposes only, and nothing contained herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any interest in any investment vehicle managed by Closed Loop Partners or any company in which Closed Loop Partners or its affiliates have invested. An offer or solicitation will be made only through a final private placement memorandum, subscription agreement and other related documents with respect to a particular investment opportunity and will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in such documents, including the qualifications necessary to become an investor. Information provided reflects Closed Loop Partners’ views as of a particular time and are subject to change without notice. You should obtain relevant and specific professional advice before making any investment decision.

December 18, 2023, New York, NY – Circular Services, a leading developer and operator of circular economy infrastructure in the U.S., announced its acquisition of Midwest Fiber Recycling, growing the portfolio of materials recovery facilities under Circular Services’ recycling arm, Balcones Recycling. This marks Circular Services’ expansion into the Midwest of the U.S., to support existing recycling infrastructure and services in the region and increase the recovery of valuable materials into domestic supply chains.

Midwest Fiber began in 1990 when founders Ron and Linda Shumaker purchased the Decatur Recycle Paper Company. Since then, with sons Mike and Todd Shumaker, they have grown the company into one of the largest recycling operations in the Midwest, with facilities in Decatur, Normal, Urbana and Peroria, IL and Terre Haute, IN. Today, Midwest Fiber services residential single-stream and commercial properties via a dedicated collection fleet. In addition, Midwest Fiber provides document destruction and recycling services and has a recycled material brokerage arm that helps generators maximize value by marketing directly to end-users. Following the acquisition, Midwest Fiber’s management team will continue to run the company, partnering with the Circular Services team and leveraging its broader platform to continue its growth trajectory.

“Todd and I waited to find the right partner,” said Mike Shumaker, CEO of Midwest Fiber Recycling. “The singular focus of Circular Services and Balcones Recycling on advancing robust circular materials management, as well as their longstanding experience operating recycling infrastructure, made them a great fit. We look forward to working alongside their team, and leading our family business into the next chapter.”

The acquisition is taking place at a critical time as more cities across the U.S. prioritize zero-waste goals, due to the combined urgency of climate risks and increasing landfill costs. Similarly, many leading corporations in the U.S. are committing to keep more materials in circulation and incorporate more recycled content in their packaging, as part of their larger sustainability and net zero goals. According to the Circularity Gap Reporting Initiative, 70% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are related to material handling and use, making circular economy infrastructure a critical part of the solution to the climate crisis. Expanding access to recycling and reuse services will enable cities and businesses to avoid the costs and emissions of landfilling products and packaging and achieve their sustainability goals.

Circular Services operates several companies to offer holistic circular materials management services, helping municipalities and businesses close the loop on valuable materials, including paper, metal, glass, plastics, organics, textiles and electronics. Among these companies is Balcones Recycling, Circular Services’ recycling company. Prior to this acquisiton, Balcones Recycling was already one of the largest independent recycling companies in the country, handling more than 1 million tons of recyclables each year through its operations in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Arizona and Arkansas. Following this acquisition, Balcones Recycling will operate 18 materials recovery facilities across the U.S., including five from Midwest Fiber.

“The Shumakers have built and led a great company with an excellent reputation as they served their surrounding communities for over 30 years,” said Tom Outerbridge, CEO of Balcones Recycling. “We are proud to join forces with Mike, Todd and their management team and leverage our collective expertise and growing portfolio of facilities to offer custom, effective recycling solutions to more municipalities, counties and small-to-large businesses.”

“We are excited to expand Circular Services and have Midwest Fiber Recycling be a part of our larger portfolio of infrastructure and services keeping materials in circulation—from paper, to plastic, organics, electronics, textiles and more,” said Amy Wagner, CFO & EVP of Business Development & Operations, Circular Services. “We look forward to expanding our services to the Midwest region of the U.S., and into commercial and brokerage services, providing more communities and companies with the infrastructure needed to reduce dependence on extraction and landfill, and advance a circular economy.”

About Balcones Recycling
Balcones Recycling is a Circular Services company. As a pure-play recycling company, Balcones is on a mission to recover all recyclables from the waste stream. As such, we design custom recycling programs focused on keeping resources away from landfills. We are known for building state-of-the-art facilities and fostering great partnerships with small-to-large businesses, counties and municipalities. We don’t stop at processing – we are active in key industry initiatives to increase the circularity of our materials and economy. We prioritize education and outreach initiatives to improve recycling participation. We love what we do and look forward to partnering with you to build a circular economy, one bale at a time. Learn more about Balcones Recycling at https://www.balconesrecycling.com/about/

About Circular Services
Circular Services is the operating group of Closed Loop Partners, a leading investment firm focused on advancing the circular economy. Circular Services provides holistic, circular materials management to close the loop on valuable materials for municipalities and businesses throughout the United States. Employing innovative technology within reuse, recycling, remanufacturing and re-commerce solutions, Circular Services improves regional economic and environmental outcomes by building resilient systems to keep food & organics, textiles, electronics, packaging and more, in circulation and out of landfill or the natural environment. For more information, please visit https://www.closedlooppartners.com/circular-services/

Nov. 1, 2023 — Today, the NextGen Consortium, a leading industry collaboration managed by Closed Loop Partners, with partner brands including Starbucks, McDonald’s, The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, JDE Peet’s, The Wendy’s Company and Yum! Brands, released a report with new findings to accelerate paper cup recycling in the U.S. The report, Closing the Loop on Cups: Collective Action to Advance the Recovery of Paper Cups in the U.S., assesses the role of each stakeholder across the paper cup recovery value chain––including paper mills, materials recovery facilities (MRFs), brands, consumers and local communities––and provides recommended actions to increase paper cup recovery opportunities and advance a more circular system.

Every day, millions of people around the world drink from paper cups. They’re safe, functional and convenient–– so much so that globally, more than 250 billion cups are produced each year. But convenience comes with environmental consequences: the majority of cups end up in landfill today. The NextGen Consortium has taken a three-pronged approach to address cup waste holistically: 1) Advancing reusable cup systems that keep materials in circulation for multiple uses, 2) Exploring material science innovation that enhances the sustainability and recoverability of cup materials, and 3) Strengthening materials recovery and recycling infrastructure that recaptures cups after use.

In this report, the NextGen Consortium focuses on the need to strengthen existing materials recovery and recycling infrastructure systems to recapture more paper cups. Recovering and recycling paper cups ensures the value embodied in paper cups—primarily comprised of fiber and a plastic liner—is recovered, rather than wasted in landfill. These cups contain high-quality fiber that is valuable to paper mills as other paper sources like newsprint and office paper decline. While the challenges for paper cup recovery and recycling are significant, collaboration among various stakeholders involved in paper cup recovery can help address its scale and complexity. The report highlights key challenges and opportunities, including:

• Today, only about 11 percent of communities accept cups in their recycling operations. This poses a significant barrier to cup recycling, as residents have few options to properly recycle their used cups.
• While only a handful of cities in the U.S. are officially accepting cups in their recycling programs, the Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) identified more than 30 paper mills that accept paper cups in mixed paper bales representing 75 percent of U.S. mixed paper demand, and an additional five mills accepting cups in carton bales. These mills are taking recovered paper materials, including cups, and reprocessing them into new products.
• In 2023, the NextGen Consortium, in collaboration with FPI and Moore & Associates, identified more than 15 additional mills across North America that are interested in testing cup acceptance or that can process cups today. This new interest is a tremendous endorsement for the work that is taking place and can catalyze cup acceptance at MRFs and in new communities in the months and years ahead.
• Each stakeholder in the value chain has an important role to play in improving paper cup recycling. The report outlines key calls to action, including calling on:
  • Mills to conduct recycling tests on paper cups to determine if the fiber can be captured without any negative operational impacts at their facilities;
  • MRFs to conduct material flow studies to determine where best to site interventions for cup sortation and to collaborate with mills and communities to expand acceptable recycling lists as more mills accept cups;
  • Communities to engage with MRFs and mills to evaluate feasibility of adding cups to accepted recyclables list;
  • Consumers to bring their own reusable cups when they can and to check local recyclability options and guidance when using disposable cups;
  • Brands to source recycled paper content when procuring their cups and other packaging, among other activities.

“The waste generated from to-go paper cups has become a highly visible representation of our disposable, take-make-waste culture. However, these cups also are a valuable resource with growing opportunities for recovery,” says Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “We know that collaboration across stakeholders––from mills and MRFs to brands and cities––is going to be critical to solving this challenge and ensuring paper cups don’t end up in landfill or polluting our environment. The NextGen Consortium plays a key role in advancing the innovation, testing and partnerships needed to make this possible.”

Since its founding in 2018, the NextGen Consortium has taken a holistic and collaborative approach to addressing the challenge of single-use cup waste, advancing reuse models, exploring material science innovations and strengthening materials recovery and recycling infrastructure that recaptures cups after use. While material reduction and reuse are key pathways to reduce reliance on virgin resource extraction, end-of-life recovery pathways are equally critical to ensure that the value embodied in all types of cups, including single-use paper cups, is recovered, rather than wasted in landfill.

As the NextGen Consortium works toward its goal of eliminating foodservice packaging waste, it will continue to work to improve and align recovery and recycling infrastructure across the entire value chain, from collection and sortation to processing and strengthening end markets. Collaborative action, data-driven decision-making and iterative testing continue to be critical to closing the loop on a greater diversity and volume of valuable resources and avoiding unintended consequences. The learnings from this report aim to guide the industry towards a future in which reusing valuable materials in products becomes the commonsense norm, shaping a more circular economy.

About the NextGen Consortium

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year consortium that addresses single-use foodservice packaging waste globally by advancing the design, commercialization and recovery of foodservice packaging alternatives. The NextGen Consortium is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Starbucks and McDonald’s are the founding partners of the Consortium, with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo as sector lead partners. JDE Peet’s, The Wendy’s Company and Yum! Brands are supporting partners. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the environmental advisory partner. Learn more at www.nextgenconsortium.com.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: Closed Loop Capital Management, the Center for the Circular Economy and Circular Services. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched its innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, which unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create, invest in and support scalable innovations that target big system problems. Learn more about the Center’s work here.

We know reuse plays a critical part in reducing foodservice packaging waste. And we’ve seen progress and innovation across all types of packaging and foodservice venues, whether cup share programs, reuse at concerts and events, or even for food delivery services. However, for reuse models to be successful and impactful, they need to check a lot of boxes––they have to fit the lifestyle of customers and align with the reality of retail operations to ensure reusable packaging is sufficiently reused. They also have to be recyclable so that they don’t become waste when they end up somewhere other than the return bin at any point in their lifecycle. Whether a reuse program has a 95 percent (terrific!), 75 percent (needs improvement) or 25 percent (look out!) return rate, designing for recyclability is key, especially as more reusable packaging enters the ecosystem. Appropriate end-of-life management is necessary to maximize the intended environmental benefit that reusable products offer.

Since 2018, the NextGen Consortium has been leading efforts to identify the role reuse can play in addressing foodservice packaging waste, alongside material innovation and recovery [see: Bringing Reusable Packaging Systems to Life: Lessons Learned from Scaling Reusable Cups]. In addition to examining the realities of consumer behavior and retail operations when deploying reuse systems, one critical question we recently investigated is: what happens when a reusable cup ends up in the recycling system?

Reusable foodservice packaging is often designed for durability––both in how long it can be reused and how many times it can be washed––but not always for recyclability. As a result, when reusable cups are decommissioned, or end up anywhere but the reuse bin, they inevitably end up in our waste streams. From NextGen’s consumer research, we know that unless disposal options are convenient, these cups will likely end up as waste. Designing reusable packaging for both consistent reuse and eventual recyclability will help increase recovery opportunities and reduce waste to landfill and the environment.

How do we ensure reusable cups do not become waste when they can no longer be reused or end up in a recycling bin rather than a reuse bin?

Testing is key. There are excellent design guidelines, such as APR’s design for recyclability guidelines, to help suppliers ensure their packaging meets the stated needs of the recycling system today. But reusable cups also need to be tested within the recycling process to see if they can be successfully recovered. There are three critical stages of the recycling process:

• Collection: how recyclable materials are collected in residential or commercial waste streams
• Sortation: how a package will flow at a material recycling facility (MRF)
• Reprocessing: how a package aligns with similar materials to be processed and remanufactured into new materials

In early 2023, the NextGen Consortium collaborated with Van Dyk Technology Center to test how a dozen different reusable polypropylene (PP) cups would sort within a MRF and see if they would end up in the correct material bale, in this case PP.

The test mimicked the flow of a typical MRF, followed APR’s sorting guidance and tested how size, compression, 2D and 3D sortation, and near infrared (NIR) sortation impact how well a cup can be sorted. The results were mixed and provide critical design insights for the companies who are manufacturing and deploying reusable cup formats.

The Results: the good, the bad and the unrecyclable.

When designed with recycling in mind, a reusable PP cup should successfully sort into the correct bale at a MRF. In our tests, the top four best performing cup models were sorted correctly more than 90 percent of the time. The test ran 50 samples of each cup through four separate runs so that each cup model ran through the facility 200 times. The results are no coincidence: successful sortability was driven by specific factors, including color, shape, opacity, thickness and material composition. The highest performing cups were typically opaque, thin and rigid but had some flexibility or bounce, and were all read clearly by the optical sensors of the sortation equipment. Cups that performed poorly, sorting less than 50 percent of the time (or sometimes not at all), often were more translucent than their successful counterparts. Overall, while only four of the cups achieved successful sortation (and a fifth cup was borderline), simple design corrections can improve the fate of the others.

Design Tips: Making recyclability a priority for reusable PP cups.

The Van Dyk sortation test gave a window into what happens to various types of reusable PP cups traveling through a MRF. However, this only assessed one step in the recycling process––sortation––and does not confirm compatibility with reclamation systems nor prove that the cup can be recycled effectively into a new package. Additional testing is needed to confirm assumptions that reusable PP cups are truly circular. For now, reusable foodservice packaging companies and suppliers can design with sortation in mind and improve end-of-life outcomes by considering the following:

• Follow the design guidelines created by APR and other groups: There are many resources available online to help packaging designers/suppliers ensure greater compatibility with the recycling system. For plastic packaging, the APR Design® Guide is a great place to start.
• Avoid all black plastics: While there have been technological advancements to help sort black plastics, most MRFs do not possess that technology. Both opaque and translucent black packaging is problematic and reusable cup manufacturers should design cups with today’s system in mind. If black is absolutely required, use an NIR sortable black colorant. Colorants that have passed APR testing can be found on APR’s website here.
• Not all polypropylene is equal: PP is a wide class of material. PP sorters in the recycling process are designed to detect and separate PP that is common to single-use plastic such as tubs and lids; however, other PP grades may not be as easily identified.It is critical to engage with your cup suppliers and test if needed to confirm compatibility.
• Mono materials (cups made of just one material) are best: A reusable cup that is multi-material (i.e., part plastic, part fiber, part silicone, etc.) is simply not compatible with today’s recycling system. Cups designed to be in a high-volume sharing system should be made of a singular material and avoid too many add-ons. Cups with ridges (i.e., a built-in sleeve) may also impede sortation; however, it does not appear that those design features are overly detrimental.
• Think twice before adding tech: Tracking systems are typically needed to assess the impact of a reuse system and enable traceability, but features such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags need to be evaluated further for their impact on the recycling system. While an RFID tag is unlikely to hinder a package’s sortability, it might impact whether a material can be reclaimed or recycled. APR’s guidance lists RFID tags as “detrimental,” and the NextGen team is investigating the impact this technology has on the system.

When in doubt, TEST.

Despite widely available design guidance, reusable packaging that is not compatible with today’s recycling system continues to be manufactured. The conversation needs to be more nuanced and shift from only discussing designing for durability and the number of washes a package can withstand, to the realities of how the packaging will actually be used and travel through a system. Most reusable wares in an open system would be lucky to hit 40 reuses (which would assume a >95% return rate)! Sortation and recovery testing can help provide reusable foodservice packaging companies with additional peace of mind and ensure that their packaging has a better chance of staying out of landfill.

The NextGen team looks forward to continuing this journey to study and test optimal conditions for reusable packaging to succeed and achieve a positive environmental impact within a circular economy.

Behind the walls of recycling facilities across the U.S., a sea of materials moves through hands and machines working hard to get them to the end of the line––and the beginning of their next life. A critical balance of manual labor and automation enables the sorting and recovery of these materials in a closed loop system. Yet despite a multi-step sortation process, it is difficult to track what flows through the system at all times. It’s a challenge that results in many recycled materials losing potential value, in addition to millions of dollars worth of valuable material being sent to landfill unintentionally.

Among the diverse materials flowing through the recycling system are the yogurt containers, and iced coffee and fountain beverage cups many of us use on a regular basis. These are just a few examples of products made of one of the most commonly used resins in foodservice packaging today: polypropylene (PP). PP is a valuable material that should be kept in circulation to reduce waste and meet corporate commitments to use more recycled content in foodservice packaging. With that said, very little mechanically recycled food-grade PP actually cycles back into food-grade applications. Most end up in nonfood-grade applications that limit their value and the number of times they can be reused. To create a more circular path for food-grade PP, we must first answer the question: what is in the PP stream today, and how much of it is food-grade or clear food-grade PP?

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year industry collaboration addressing single-use foodservice packaging waste by advancing solutions across material innovation, reuse and recovery infrastructure––and it’s working to answer that question. In the fall of 2022, the Consortium partnered with Resource Recycling Systems to examine PP bales in two materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to learn what was inside. While only a snapshot in time, the results were enlightening.

On average, nearly half of the PP bales (48%) were presumed food-grade, and more than a quarter of the bales were clear food-grade (26%). Clear beverage cups represented 14% of the bale on average. The high percentage of food-grade PP suggested that there is untapped value in the PP stream. A better system is required to ensure food-grade and/or clear food-grade PP is properly sorted into a separate bale at some point in the value chain if we are to retain its highest potential value.

This year, the NextGen Consortium is diving even deeper, launching a first-of-its-kind study leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the composition of the PP material stream well before it ends up in a bale. Together with its managing partner––Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy––the NextGen Consortium is working with Greyparrot, a leading AI waste analytics platform for the circular economy. The collaboration aims to track and categorize objects in the PP stream, and determine the volume of valuable food-grade material passing through the system. AI is on the rise as one potential means of increasing visibility into the recycling process. Today, more technologies are needed to handle an increasingly mixed stream of collected materials, including plastics, electronics, textiles and food scraps––and to enable the recovery of clean, high-quality materials.

“Ensuring that recovery infrastructure can keep pace with a rapidly growing and diverse material stream is critical to advancing the circular economy, alongside solutions such as material innovation, reduction and reuse,” said Kate Daly, Managing Director and Head of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “An important part of our work in the NextGen Consortium is identifying opportunities for data collection and analysis that can advance the circularity of foodservice packaging, and drive greater value for stakeholders across the system, including brands, innovators, infrastructure operators and consumers.”

As part of this project, the Greyparrot Analyser units will be installed above the PP recovery conveyor belts at four leading U.S. MRFs: Balcones Recycling, TX; Cougles Recycling, PA; Rumpke Recycling, OH; and Eureka Recycling, MN. Greyparrot’s AI-powered computer vision system uses cameras to capture images of objects in the PP stream, aiming to quantify and qualify the materials flowing through the MRFs. Their AI model will look to categorize each object based on material, format, financial value and brand, as well as distinguish food- and nonfood-grade material, using those images. Their units will then send that data to an analytics dashboard in real-time. Through machine learning, the flexible vision systems can help improve their package recognition and classification over time.

“We use artificial intelligence to gain continuous and reliable visibility into recycling streams,” said Ambarish Mitra, Co-founder and CPO of Greyparrot. “This helps us improve recycling operations by placing waste intelligence into the hands of the people who are recovering, redesigning and remanufacturing the objects we throw away. We are thrilled to work with our U.S. partners towards our vision of a future where every piece of waste is valued as a resource.”

The collaborative project––a first of its kind in North America––will run for more than six months. During that period, it will gather data on the composition of PP bales over time, while accounting for seasonality. That insight can help determine the potential untapped value in these streams, and identify other materials that might be coming through unintentionally. This data can also help shed light on the presumed volume of food-grade material being captured in the system, along with opportunities for recovery and separation into distinct value chains. More broadly, this can advance a circular economy for valuable materials, improve material quality delivered to recycling facilities, and enhance the value of recyclable commodities shipped to U.S. end markets.

“A lot is unknown about the curbside polypropylene stream today. Filling these knowledge gaps can increase the pace of development for material recovery. Understanding the composition of the stream in a large-scale study highlights potential, reduces risk for pioneers and accelerates better design implementation. This study will be the catalyst to developing much larger-scale recycling of polypropylene,” said Curt Cozart, President of Common Sense Solutions and Technical Advisor to the project.

PP cup recovery––alongside material innovation, reuse and fiber cup recovery––is a critical focus for the NextGen Consortium. According to The Recycling Partnership, more than 2 billion pounds of PP are generated every year by single-family households in the U.S. If just 30% of this material were recovered, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 300,000 metric tons, providing over 600 million pounds of valuable raw material to companies with recycled content commitments for their foodservice packaging, both voluntary and mandated.

The NextGen Consortium has been actively involved in PP recovery since 2021, when it joined The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition as a Steering Committee member. Through this initiative, the group helps to fund equipment grants for MRFs so that they can effectively capture PP packaging, and improve community recycling access rates. In addition to improving recycling access, the NextGen Consortium is committed to driving recycling rates by supporting the recovery of post-consumer recycled content (PCR) that can be re-incorporated into packaging.

This collaboration with Greyparrot and MRFs across the U.S. is one critical step toward achieving the NextGen Consortium’s goals. As more data about the PP material stream is captured over the next six months, the Consortium will analyze the new data, identifying opportunities to improve PP sortation and recovery into higher value, new food-grade applications and areas where more research is needed. The NextGen Consortium continues to invite additional MRFs to participate in the project, to gain a better understanding into what is flowing through their material streams and identify ways to drive more value to the system.

About the NextGen Consortium

The NextGen Consortium is a multi-year consortium that addresses single-use food packaging waste globally by advancing the design, commercialization, and recovery of food packaging alternatives. The NextGen Consortium is managed by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy. Starbucks and McDonald’s are the founding partners of the Consortium, with The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo as sector lead partners. JDE Peet’s, Wendy’s and Yum! Brands are supporting partners. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the environmental advisory partner. Learn more at www.nextgenconsortium.com.

About the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners is  at the forefront of building the circular economy. The company is comprised of three key business segments: Closed Loop Capital Management, the Center for the Circular Economy and Circular Services. In 2018, Closed Loop Partners launched its innovation center, the Center for the Circular Economy, which unites competitors to tackle complex material challenges and to implement systemic change that advances the circular economy. Closed Loop Partners brings together designers, manufacturers, recovery systems operators, trade organizations, municipalities, policymakers and NGOs to create, invest in, and support scalable innovations that target big system problems. Learn more about the Center’s work here.