MacroCycle ready to scale up plastic scrap solution

US start-up MacroCycle Technologies has raised US$ 6.5 million (EUR 6.2 million) to advance its chemical recycling process.

MacroCycle says the funding allows it to grow operations by 50% and to scale up its pilot plant facilities. This is seen as vital in meeting customer demand for upcycled PET and polyester resin.   

The recycler was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2023. Its innovative chemistry and selective non-toxic reagents ‘greatly simplify’ the plastics recycling process. It is said to require around 80% less energy than fossil-based PET production and at least 50% lower capital expenditure than competing chemical or biological recycling methods.

Growth phase

The investment round was led by sustainability venture capitalists Clean Energy Ventures and Volta Circle. MacroCycle aims to recycle PET bottles and polyester textile waste from customers with large packaging waste footprints across the cosmetics, textiles, home goods, food and beverage industries, as well as luxury and fast fashion clothing brands.

The groundwork for MacroCycle’s technology was laid during the academic work of Jan-Georg Rosenboom, co-founder and cto of MacroCycle, and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

With early support from the Breakthrough Energy Fellows programme, MacroCycle has scaled up its technology by 100 times from lab-scale beakers to a pilot reactor at The Engine Accelerator’s facilities in Massachusetts. 

To address growing demand for its mPET product, the plant will support large-scale product validation and produce bottles and garments made entirely from MacroCycle’s recycled polyethylene resin. 

Circular plastics needed

‘There’s a US$ 700 billion linear plastics market opportunity but today’s recycling technologies are too expensive to build and operate, and still yield low-value products,’ says MacroCycle ceo Stewart Pena Feliz. ‘Our technology will be a key enabler for plastic circularity, as we allow our customers and suppliers to finally unlock the economic and environmental benefits of recycling.’

‘Global plastic waste is expected to triple in the next 40 years and current mechanical and chemical recycling methods are not able to deliver viable solutions to process plastics and textiles waste streams,’ adds Temple Fennell, managing partner at Clean Energy Ventures. ‘MacroCycle’s solution to upcycle plastics tackles an increasingly severe waste issue to create an economically and environmentally circular plastics supply chain.’