Today, three leading plastics and material science companies––Dow, LyondellBasell and NOVA Chemicals––announced the establishment of the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund to invest in scalable recycling technologies, equipment upgrades and infrastructure solutions. 

The Fund, managed by Closed Loop Partners, has an initial $25 million investment and invites businesses across the plastics value chain to join in advancing the recovery and recycling of plastics in the U.S. and Canada. The goal of the catalytic fund is to deploy $100 million, through a combination of the Fund's founding investors, additional corporate investors and financial institutions, in order to attract additional capital beyond the Fund's own commitments. 

At scale, the Fund’s investments aim to recycle over 500 million pounds of plastic over the Fund’s lifespan. 

The Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund will invest in three strategic areas - Access, Optimization, and Manufacturing to increase the amount of recycled plastic available to meet the growing demand for high-quality, recycled content in products and packaging. 

The Fund will deploy a flexible mix of debt and equity financing, and will also aim to stimulate mainstream co-investments, including those from financial institutions, into circular solutions for plastics to further accelerate impact at scale. 

“We look forward to investing in sustainable infrastructure and innovations that enable and encourage other companies, including investors in the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund, to deploy significantly more of their own capital to further scale these critical solutions,” says Ron Gonen, Founder & CEO, Closed Loop Partners. 

The current supply of recycled plastics meets only 6% of demand for the most commonly used plastics in the U.S. and Canada. Increasing the recovery and recirculation of plastics could help meet an addressable market for plastics with potential revenue opportunities of $120 billion in the U.S. and Canada alone. 

“Dow is investing with Closed Loop Partners as another way to catalyze additional investment in recycling technology and infrastructure in the U.S. and Canada. Plastic materials are essential to a sustainable, low carbon economy and this fund, alongside other investments and collaborations we are engaged in, will help move society toward a circular economy, ensuring plastic is not lost to the environment,” says Jim Fitterling, Chairman and CEO, Dow. 

Bob Patel, CEO, LyondellBasell said, “In addition to our company’s efforts, further enhancements to recycling infrastructure are critical to capturing the value of used plastics and advancing the circular economy. We believe successful joint investment can transform the challenges of plastic waste into sustainable business opportunities.” 

Luis Sierra, President and CEO, NOVA Chemicals said, “Innovation is key to our collective success. If we can create plastic products that are easier to recycle, perform with less materials, incorporate more recycled content and invest in the recycling and recovery infrastructure, we will achieve a zero plastic waste future. We are ready to work across the value chain, developing new solutions that will shape a better tomorrow.”