Seed funding to help DePoly scale its chemical recycling process

DePoly SA, Sion, Switzerland, has announced a $13.8 million seed funding round that will help it to scale its chemical recycling technology that converts mixed postconsumer and postindustrial polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic streams, as well as polyester-containing fabrics and fibers, back into their precursors.

The funding round was co-led by BASF Venture Capital and Wingman Ventures with participation from Beiersdorf, Infinity Recycling, CIECH Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Angel Invest, Ace & Co. and others.

DePoly, which was launched in 2020 by Chief Executive Officer Samantha Anderson, Chief Technology Officer Bardiya Valizadeh and Chief Scientific Officer Christopher Ireland, says it intends to address the entirety of the end-of-life plastic stream with its chemical recycling technology.

The company says its technology operates at room temperature and standard pressure and does not require prewashing, presorting, premelting or removing other plastics or materials. It can address PET and polyester streams that typically are turned down by conventional mechanical recyclers, such as those containing mixed plastics, mixed colors, dirty streams, fabrics and fibers, according to DePoly, which also claims the technology is energy efficient, can be implemented quickly and is easy to tailor to a customer's specific needs.

Photo courtesy DePoly

In 2020, DePoly built and continues to operate a pilot plant that processes 50 metric tons per year of PET and polyester, showcasing the scope and flexibility of the technology for various industries ranging from packaging to textiles, fashion and postindustrial streams. With the funding, the company will build a showcase plant with a capacity of 500 metric tons per year to demonstrate the technology at commercial scale, which is expected to be operational in 2024.

“Plastics are a part of our lives and an existential dilemma facing us all,” says Samantha Anderson, CEO and co-founder of DePoly. “The plastic market isn’t slowing down, as it’s currently growing at a yearly rate of 5 percent [compound annual growth rate] and is estimated to be worth over $500 billion.

“We believe that to tackle this problem effectively, a simple, scalable solution is required that can treat difficult plastic streams,” she continues. “By recycling pre-/postconsumer and postindustrial plastics that otherwise would be sent to incineration centers or be landfilled, we at DePoly aim to eliminate plastic waste and create a sustainable source of chemicals by diverting this waste from our environment and lowering our carbon footprint up to 65 percent at the same time.”

Anderson says the raw materials produced using DePoly’s technology are of a quality that matches their fossil-fuel-based equivalents, so customers don’t have to choose between PET quality or sustainability.

Antonia Albert, principal at Zurich-based Wingman Ventures, says, “DePoly is paving the way for a truly sustainable plastic economy. We are extremely proud to support DePoly since day one on their journey to tackle this planetary crisis to clean our oceans and landfills from plastic waste and to welcome leading investors from the chemicals, recycling, climate- and deep tech space on board to build the global leader for the sustainable plastics recycling.”

Markus Solibieda, managing director at Mannheim, Germany-based BASF Venture Capital (BASF VC), says, “DePoly’s technology offers a promising solution to address the global plastic waste challenge and concurrently support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of virgin plastics. We are excited to support their mission to create a more sustainable future.”

BASF VC says the investment underlines BASF’s ongoing commitment to developing sustainable solutions for a circular economy.

“We strongly believe in the potential of the DePoly technology as it bridges a crucial gap in circular PET usage by preserving desired quality standards effectively,” Michael Becker, vice president of Global Packaging R&D at Beiersdorf, a Germany-based global skincare company. “We are looking forward to supporting DePoly and the development of this new recycling solution for us and the cosmetics industry.”

Jan Willem Muller, managing partner at Netherlands-based Infinity Recycling, which creates markets for end-of-life material streams by investing in advanced recycling technologies and connecting the value chain, says, “We believe that DePoly has the team and the drive to bring their groundbreaking innovation for polyester recycling to market. Together with DePoly’s partners, we are supporting a significant step forward in our joint mission to tackle the global plastic and clothing waste crisis, transforming the future of recycling.”

DePoly's technology is not the only chemical recycling technology aimed at PET. Eastman in the U.S. is using methanolysis to convert end-of-life PET and polyester streams at its Kingsport, Tennessee, plant and plans a similar facility for France. Also in France, Carbios is operating a demonstration plant that depolymerizes PET using its C-Zyme technology and has partnered with Thailand-based Indorama Ventures to install a system at Indorama's PET production site in Longlaville, France, that can recycle 50,000 tons of postconsumer PET per year, the equivalent of2 billion PET bottles or 2.5 billion PET trays, the companies say.