Circulate Capital,the Singapore-based investment management company focused on preventing plastic from leaking into the ocean and advancing the circular economy,today announced that theCirculate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF) has made a strategic investment in Gujarat-based Deeya Panel Products Pvt Ltd (Ricron). Established in partnership with PepsiCo (its first investor), Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Chanel, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, and Chevron Phillips Chemical, CCOF is the world’s first investment fund dedicated to combat ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia.
Multi-layer plastic (MLP) packaging, such as chip packets and chocolate wrappers, is one of the largest contributors to ocean pollution globally and presents a unique challenge for India’s waste management and recycling industry.While it is a favoured form of packaging due to its affordability and long shelf-life, it is difficult to recycle, seeing most of it ending up in landfills or in the environment, or being incinerated.
Ricron has found a solution to this challenge, by giving new life to low value multilayer plastic waste. Through an innovative proprietary process, the company transforms this waste into high performing, cost-effective recycled materials that offer an alternative to common building materials, such as plywood. Ricron’s products include sustainable flat boards and panels for a variety of furniture, construction and building applications. The recycled materials are 100% eco-friendly and offer long-term utility being fire-resistant, water and dust proof and termite proof.
As one of the largest MLP recyclers in India, Ricron has diverted approximately 80,000 tons of waste from the environment over the last eight years. In 2020 alone, the company recycled 1,900 tons of plastic – theequivalent of more than 38 million toothpaste tubes–savingover 1,200 trees from being used by the building industry. The company is also zero-waste discharge company, meaning there is no waste from its operations as all materials are recycled and reused.
Commenting on the milestone, Rahul Chaudhary, CO-founder and CEO, said, “We are firm believers and practitioners of the circular economy and recognise the blue ocean opportunity to capture the value of difficult to manage multi-layer plastic waste by transforming it into useful materials. The team at Ricron is proud to have spearheaded innovation to upcycle this waste into high quality, eco-friendly materials that is well regarded by the building industry. We look forward to working with Circulate Capitaland its partners to further our mission by creating quality, innovative solutions at scale, to capture the growing demand for sustainable building materials.”
Commenting on thecommitment, Rob Kaplan, CEO and Co-founder, Circulate Capital said, “We believeRicron’s unique solution has the potential to play an important part in transforming the waste management and recycling value chain in the country and we look forward to supporting them on this journey.”
About Author
