From nuclear waste recycling to making T-shirts out of plastic bottles, here are nine of the most interesting new companies in the recycling sector.

Seven beakers filled with differently coloured plastic shards
Photo courtesy of DePoly SA

From nuclear waste to tyres, batteries, or T-shirts made from plastic bottles, the list of materials that can be recycled has been growing rapidly along with the ways to do so. Corporate investors are increasingly putting money into backing startups working on technologies that can help them reuse materials.

GCV Corporate Venturing Deal data has tracked close to 50 corporate-backed funding rounds for startups involved in recycling technologies over the past two years.

Here is a list of some of the newer companies to emerge. None have raised money past series A stage so far, but all are worth having on the radar.

A beaker filled with a green liquid resting on a mound of grey dust
Photo courtesy of DePoly SA

DePoly

Sion, Switzerland

Founded: 2020

Funding to date: $15.3m

More than 90% of the world’s plastics are not recycled, instead ending up in landfills, the ocean or, increasingly, the food chain. DePoly has created a process that breaks down polyester and PET, the plastic used in plastic bottles and clothing, from a polymer structure to its original two monomers, meaning they can be used in new plastics and chemicals.

The process doesn’t use heat or pressure, and it doesn’t need the plastic to be sorted, washed, separated or melted beforehand, the way it does with mechanical recycling systems. The Swiss company broke ground on its showcase plant in June last year.

Chemicals producer BASF co-led DePoly’s $13.8m seed round in mid-2023 through BASF Venture Capital, with packaging manufacturer Beiersdorf and Ciech Ventures, the investment arm of chemical provider Ciech, also participating.

 

A man and a woman posing together in suits
Photo courtesy of Unirec

Unirec

Mumbai, India

Founded: 2021

Funding to date: $190,000

Unirec is also tackling plastics recycling, but in a completely different way. It’s an Indian fashion brand that produces T-shirts for men and women, as well as blazers and Nehru jackets, that are made from recycled plastic bottles.

The company claims that each garment it produces saves a dozen bottles from landfill, adding up to a total of 700,000 so far, and its customers include Tata Power, IndianOil and IDBI Bank, all of which have placed bulk orders for its clothing, for use as corporate apparel.

Singapore-based BeyondSeed led the startup’s $190,000 seed round in January 2024, cash that was earmarked for market expansion and research on innovative and sustainable fabrics.

 

A hand holding up a phone showing the Rekosistem app
Photo courtesy of PT Khazanah Hijau Indonesia

Rekosistem

Jakarta, Indonesia

Founded: 2021

Funding to date: $5m

Indonesia has the fourth largest population on Earth but significant waste management problems, particularly when it comes to plastic pollution, and overflowing landfills. Rekosistem is trying to help handle the problem with a Jakarta-based, tech-enabled waste management and recycling system.

The company has equipped its collection points and material recovery facilities with internet-of-things sensors and uses machine learning to improve waste collection efficiency. And on the customer side, residences, buildings and local governments can manage waste collection through its mobile app.

Rekosistem raised $5m in seed capital in 2023 from investors including venture firms Skystar Capital and East Ventures as well as investment group Provident Capital Partners.

 

People wearing NEU Battery Materials standing next to oil drums filled with used batteries
Photo courtesy of NEU Battery Materials

NEU Battery Materials

Singapore

Founded: 2021

Funding to date: $4.3m

Lithium-ion batteries are essential for cleantech products like electric vehicles, but they need to be recycled so that the rare earth metals they use can be reused, reducing the need for mining new material. Only a small percentage of them are, and existing methods require large quantities of energy and heat.

Singapore’s NEU Battery Materials has developed the world’s first electrochemical recycling system for lithium-ion batteries, using only water and electricity for a method it claims is scalable, less harmful to the environment while also being a more commercially viable alternative.

Domestic recycling firm Se-cure Waste Management co-led a $580,000 round for NEU in 2022, before the company added $3.7m the following year in a seed round featuring transport group ComfortDelGro’s $100m venture arm.

 

A man in a hoodie working a photovoltaic solar panel recycling machine
Photo courtesy of Solar Materials GmbH

Solar Materials

Magdeburg, Germany

Founded: 2021

Funding to date: $16.1m

The energy transition is creating its own recycling challenges and Solar Materials is focusing on solar panels, appropriate given its home country of Germany has installed roughly as much solar energy as the next three European countries combined.

Solar Materials estimates it can recover and recycle 98% of the raw materials in solar panels, including glass, aluminium, silicon, silver, copper and plastics, using thermo-mechanical technology instead of chemicals.

The startup secured approximately $2.8m in an early 2023 seed round and added $13.3m in series A funding from investors including BMP Ventures, IBG funds, First Imagine and Katapult in May 2024. It is preparing to open an industrial-sized plant next year that will increase recycling capacity to more than 500,000 solar panels per year.

 

Photo courtesy of Markus Distelrath via Pexels

Alpha Nur

Chicago, USA

Founded: 2021

Funding to date: Undisclosed

Nuclear power has always been one of the energy sources with the lowest carbon emissions as well as enjoying a status as a baseload source. But one of its largest problems has always been safely disposing of the waste. Alpha Nur is attempting to mitigate the problem.

The startup, which was founded by two University of Chicago students, is developing technology that will be able to recycle and dilute spent nuclear fuel so it can be recycled. The electrochemical process concentrates on molten salt and Alpha Nur is initially focusing on the 40 metric tons of spent uranium currently in the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s reserves.

Alpha Nur was part of the University of Chicago’s cleantech accelerator, Resurgence, in 2023. It has also joined the DOE’s Cradle to Commerce Program and won first place in the department’s Office of Nuclear Energy EnergyTech University Technology Bonus Prize.

 

A leather bag, keychain and pouch resting on a chair
Photo courtesy of Biophilica

Biophilica

London, UK

Founded: 2019

Funding to date: $1.6m

A range of companies are working on alternative leathers right now, but generally by sourcing new materials like the mushroom-based myocilin. Biophilica is using green waste from urban parks and gardens as well as agricultural feedstock that is inedible.

Treekind, the company’s vegan leather alternative, is recyclable and home-compostable and it can be used for everything from packaging to watch straps, jewellery and fashion accessories. The startup has since added an adhesive product called Brightbond.

Biophilica’s funding is so far made up of about $1.6m in seed financing raised in 2022 from backers such as venture firm Rhapsody Venture Partners.

 

Demi composting locker
Photo courtesy of Demi

Demi

Chicago, USA

Founded: 2022

Funding to date: $100,000+

Although materials like paper and plastic are routinely collected and recycled from homes, food waste remains underutilised. Demi runs a home composting service designed for urban customers, making pick-up easier and incorporating social and reward elements.

Demi offers its sleek containers to residents of apartment blocks who can then deposit them in bins in the lobby of their building. It takes care of the composting itself in partnership with community organisations and compost processors.

The startup entered Gener8tor’s Sustainability Accelerator in 2023, picking up $100,000 in financing in the process, and unconfirmed online sources place its funding at between $800,000 and $850,000.

 

Delapidated, rusted car covered with graffiti, leaning vertically against a wall, surrounded by rubble
Photo courtesy of level17-design via Pixabay

Metaloop

Graz, Austria

Founded: 2016

Funding to date: $21.5m

It isn’t just metals from used electronic devices that need to be recycled, there is also the scrap metal that gets produced as a by-product in industrial manufacturing. Metaloop is looking to solve that problem with an online marketplace for scrap metal.

The company has links to smelters as well as recyclers and can connect them to customers who need to dispose of their scrap. It handles logistics and payment, and launched a cloud platform last August that lets businesses manage their metal scrap through a central hub.

Power producer Statkraft was among the investors in a $17m series A round for Metaloop in 2023 that was led by FirstMark Capital and has a board seat and an observer position at the company, having backed it since seed stage.

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.