Circular launches online trading platform for recycled plastics in circularity boost

Ian Arthurs, founder and CEO at Circular.

21 Jun 2022 --- Circular is launching a full service digital platform that introduces a way to buy and sell environmentally sustainable commodities at scale, starting with a focus on recycled plastics. The platform offers online trading, accessible data and transparent economics. 

The digital infrastructure tools simplify supply chain logistics by sourcing, vetting, matching, contracting, shipping and providing billing for its customers. Buyers and sellers can trade with confidence, backed by a full guarantee, and a dedicated concierge to facilitate the entire process, the company says.

“This is the only platform of its kind – it spans buyers/sellers across the whole value chain, offers contracts (not just spot market), plus full service and supply chain logistics management,” tells Ian Arthurs, founder and CEO at Circular, PackagingInsights.

“Circular’s focus is on the big economic and environmental picture behind helping brands and major manufacturers access the materials they need to meet [environmental] sustainability goals.” 

“There is more than enough [recyclable] material out there to meet demand, but the industry has lacked the infrastructure and economic transparency to support greater recovery and circularity.”

“Circular selected recycled plastics to start because of the scale of opportunity and challenge this industry faces,” adds Aidan Madigan-Curtis, partner, Eclipse Ventures and board member of Circular. 

Over 380 million metric tons of virgin plastic are produced each year, while global recycling rates globally remain under 9%.A plastic evolution?
Madigan-Curtis explains that over 380 million metric tons of virgin plastic are produced each year and global recycling rates remain under 9%, dropping to under 5% recently in the US. 

These poor recycling rates can lead to ocean pollution, microplastics in the bloodstream, and roughly two gigatons per year of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere.

“The plastics industry is essential to the global economy and needs to evolve sustainably as fast as possible,” says Madigan-Curtis. 

“The digital tools required to help this environmentally sustainable evolution already exist in other industries; it’s inevitable they will apply to the plastic industry; our aim is to expedite the process.”

As a leading early adopter of sustainable packaging, Method and Ripple Foods founder, Adam Lowry, says: “We applaud major brands and manufacturers setting [environmental] sustainability goals to reduce their dependence on virgin plastic. Now is the time to take real action on those pledges.”

A win-win
Arthurs explains the main challenge was figuring out how to create tools that allow for matching, sampling, negotiations and contracting, which is the reality of how recycled plastics are traded today.

“We built communications tools such as group chat to facilitate negotiations and discussions, plus integrated multiple SaaS tools that allow for payments, shipping and contract creation and editing.”

Lowry adds with positive economics, recyclers are investing in more capacity and Circular’s digital platform gives buyers and sellers more options, making trading easier. 

“By delivering a transparent digital trading experience, brands and manufacturers can now confidently buy [environmentally] sustainable materials at scale,” says Arthurs. 

“This [platform] creates a clear economic opportunity which in turn stimulates innovation to create more supply, more liquidity, greater circularity, less waste and less CO2. Marrying the best of technology with the reality of how plastic is bought, creates a real win-win, which is ultimately Circular’s goal.”

Circular’s digital platform gives buyers and sellers more options, making trading easier. Adding expertise
Circular says its leadership team is positioned to deliver on its objectives, bringing decades of technology platform experience from the likes of Google, Airbnb, TaskRabbit, Bloomberg, Snap and Medium. 

Further, Arthurs has added a bench of senior industry advisors, including Lowry and other executives in the recycling and manufacturing spaces. 

Rounding out the team, Circular secured Eclipse Ventures, a venture capital firm helping entrepreneurs build exceptional companies that make physical industries more efficient, resilient and profitable, as their lead investor. 

The combination brings unparalleled depth of expertise in digitizing physical industries, including manufacturing, supply chain and logistics. 

For the past year, Circular and Eclipse have been conducting research and development, and testing the digital platform among buyers and sellers. Circular is now prepared to launch and offer “real scale” for global buyers and sellers.

By Natalie Schwertheim

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