Circulate Capital, investment managers dedicated to ocean plastic prevention, raised $106 million in its venture capital fund aimed to clear the waters in Asia.
The fund will invest in companies and infrastructure that prevent ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia through a model that blends concessionary funds with investment capital. It has identified more than 200 potential investment opportunities with the first targets for capital deployment earmarked for 2019-end.
Founding investors of the fund include PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dow, Unilever, Coca-Cola Company, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company and Danone.
Asia is the leading contributor to the crisis, with 60 percent of ocean plastic originating from the region, according to a release. A recent Ocean Conservancy report found financing gaps of $28-40 per ton of plastic waste collection in the top five ocean polluters – China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
«The good news is that we are able to reduce nearly 50% of the world’s plastic leakage by investing in the waste and recycling sector in Asia, and even more if we invest in innovative materials and technologies,» said Rob Kaplan, CEO of Circulate Capital.
«This is why we are here in Singapore – a strategic hub of Southeast Asia – to prove that investing in this sector is scalable for the region and can generate competitive returns while moving closer to solving the ocean plastic crisis.»
Corporate Returns
In addition to investment returns, its founding investors could make gains from the actual activities engaged by firms. For example, ecosystems to support plastic recycling could result in astronomical long-term returns for companies involved in large scale packaging by potentially creating a «circular economy».
That’s why at Coca-Cola we have invested in Circulate Capital and have committed to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle and can we produce by 2030, said Matt Echols, vice president of communications, public affairs and sustainability, Coca-Cola Asia Pacific.
Packaging does not need to become waste. By investing in the waste collection and recycling sector in this critical region, beverage packaging can become a valuable material used again and again – a step closer towards a circular economy.