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Business case

Direct and indirect effects that increase revenues or the potential for new revenues, for example from new products, customer segments, partnerships or business models

Revenue Potential

Designing products to resist damage and wear, and serve a long and useful life.

Design for physical durability

Impact on the ease of innovation, and facilitating uptake of innovations

Innovation

Reduced green house gas emissions released into the biosphere

Reduce Emissions (SDG13)

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within the same industry

Closed loop upcycling

Using materials that can be easily reused or recycled after use

Reusable, recyclable materials and inputs

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Impacts

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Industries

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The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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Novoloop’s first product, Oistre, is a type of thermoplastic urethane (TPU). TPU is commonly used in footwear soles and waterproof clothing; the fashion industry alone uses an estimated 150,000 metric tonnes annually. Oistre performs as well as virgin TPU in performance tests – it is both strong, flexible and highly durable – and crucially is worth 50 times more than the PE it is recycled from, making it genuine upcycling. “Globally, 550,000 metric tonnes of TPU is used each year. If brand owners were to adopt Oistre into their TPU applications this could prevent up to 275,000 metric tonnes of PE plastics from entering landfills and rivers every year,” Wang says. The climate benefits would also be significant. “Oistre also contains up to 45 per cent lower CO2e than fossil fuel-based TPU.”Novoloop has partnered with the City of San Jose to upcycle its municipal PE waste, and the company is now partnering with brands to turn Oistre into products. “We partner with brands that are concerned about sustainability, namely footwear, apparel, automotive and sporting goods industries to name just a few,” Wang says. “By brands adopting Oistre we can keep a significant amount of plastic waste out of landfills, incinerators or waterways – up to 25,000 metric tonnes per year by 2026.”In 2019, Wang was named a Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate, to support Novoloop’s work in addressing plastic pollution. Launched in 1976 to mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic Oyster wrist watch, the annual Rolex Awards for Enterprise have to date supported 155 exceptional individuals from around the world whose work is dedicated to addressing global challenges, preserving our natural and cultural heritage, or advancing our understanding of planet Earth. “[Rolex] has connected me with an inspiring community during my early and formative years as an entrepreneur. Without the Rolex Awards, it would have been much harder to move Novoloop’s technology forward when we were still in early development,” Wang says.Novoloop is growing fast, as are other novel solutions to our plastic problem. According to a recent Google-funded research paper, chemical recycling capacity needs to increase by up to 135 times by 2040 in order to keep up with our plastic waste. Meanwhile, Novoloop is developing new materials and recycling methods for other forms of waste plastic, in its mission to transform single-use and poorly-recycled plastics into long-lasting, valuable materials. “We are obsessed with showing what can be done with plastic waste,” Wang says. “We will be expanding our capabilities to break down plastic waste and build a larger and larger platform of performance products to keep the carbons inside plastics in play.”For Wang, Oistre is a small but significant step towards solving the plastic pollution crisis. “By upcycling PE into Oistre, Novoloop is proving that there is high value in post-consumer plastics that today’s recycling technology cannot recycle,” Wangs says. “And that a circular economy is achievable.”To find out more about Rolex Laureate Miranda Wang’s initiative, please visit Rolex.org, and explore our Planet Pioneers partnership page here.

   Novoloop technology turns polyethylene waste into a virgin-quality performance polymer  Novoloop/David Salpeter  
Plastics normally bound for the landfill are getting a new life from California startup Novoloop. The company upcycles polyethylene, a plastic that’s widely used but rarely recycled.  With $11 million recently raised in Series A financing and a new partnership with Bemis Associates, Novoloop’s CEO says the company is one step closer to putting out products with the first chemically upcycled plastic called Oistre.  The Novoloop plastic is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for use in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive and electronics.  “We are going to be scaling up our tech to make more than 1 metric ton of Oistre TPU to sample with footwear and sporting goods brands,” says CEO Miranda Wang, also a cofounder.  The waste polyethylene is sourced from Southern California and partners include GreenWaste Recovery in San Jose.
Novoloop’s process technology, known as Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition, breaks down polyethylene into chemical building blocks that can be synthesized and used in high-value products.

   Oistre (pronounced OYST-rah) is named after the humble oyster, one of nature’s star waste upcyclers.  Novoloop/David Salpeter  

Formerly known as XIRC, Oistre is billed as the first thermoplastic polyurethane made from post-consumer polyethylene waste that matches the performance characteristics of virgin TPUs made from petrochemicals.  What’s more, Oistre’s carbon footprint is up to 46% smaller than conventional thermoplastic polyurethanes, based on a life cycle assessment by Aspire Sustainability.  The Series A was led by Envisioning Partners with participation from Valo Ventures and Bemis Associates. Earlier investors who joined the round included SOSV, Mistletoe and TIME Ventures.
The joint partnership with Bemis aims to use the upcycled Oistre product in apparel bonding solutions such as seam tapes found in high-performance outwear. Bemis says in a news release that scaling Novoloop’s breakthrough will be “a huge step in shifting away from virgin petroleum sources and reducing our products’ carbon footprints.”
Novoloop is reportedly engaged with a number of consumer brands for footwear and apparel applications using Oistre. Those other partnerships aren’t ready to be revealed yet.
“All I can say right now is that we are initially starting with helping Bemis increase the sustainability of their seam tape product,” Wang says. “This is used for many applications including waterproofing performance outerwear. 
“The plan between us is to over time, replace all the virgin fossil-based TPU Bemis is using with Novoloop's Oistre. They are very serious about leading on this front.”
Wang notes that for every kilogram of Oistre created, 0.5 kg of polyethylene plastic waste is upcycled, and 4-5 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions is prevented. 
Novoloop is sampling and taking pre-orders for Oistre 65A, a soft grade polyester TPU for injection molding that’s especially suitable for footwear applications. Higher durometer (harder material) grades of Oistre TPU will be introduced soon.
   Members of the Novoloop team   Novoloop/Wiatrak  


San Jose

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Novoloop has developed technology to upcycle polymer waste into high quality polymer products.

Novoloop

Bemis

<p>Although polyethylene is notionally one of the easiest plastics to recycle, limited amounts actually are recycled: in the US, in 2018, only 4.3% of LDPE was recycled [Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Report Data Tables, 2018]. Novoloop has developed a process for using LDPE as a basis for creation of Oistre™, their higher performance thermoplastic polyurethane product.</p>

Upcycling polyethylene waste

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This collection has been built by a community of passionate researchers, students, and industry professionals as part of <a href="https://worldcirculartextilesday.com/" target="_blank">World Circular Textiles Day</a> (WCTD). 


World Circular Textiles Day takes place every year on 8th October.  Our vision is to galvanise the collective ambitions and goals of people, organisations and businesses to reach a fully circular textiles world by 2050. Our mission is to provide a framework for circularity stakeholders to develop and deliver a collaborative, evolving roadmap and to chart circularity’s momentum annually from the 8th of October until 2050.

What does fully circular by 2050 mean?
- Shared textile resources, in the form of products and raw materials, are kept in **continual circulation**.
- Virgin resources are **replaced with circular materials**.
- Dignity, equity, and equality for the **people** involved in all parts of the circular value chain.

We need to know where we stand today to chart how to get to 100% Circularity by 2050. What circular activity is currently happening in the textiles and apparel industry, and where in the world is it happening? The WCTD Collection aims to answer this question by building the world’s largest digital library of circular textiles case studies. 

World Circular Textiles Day is proud to be supported by our 2022-23 Circular Hero Partners:
[Lenzing](https://www.lenzing.com/), [Texaid](https://retailsolutions.texaid.com/), [Bank & Vogue](https://www.bankvogue.com/), [Usha yarns limited](https://ushayarns.com/), [The Conduit](https://www.theconduit.com/), and [Asia Pacific Rayon](https://www.aprayon.com/en/)

## Want to contribute to the WCTD Collection? Sign up and add your circular textiles activities.





World Circular Textiles Day

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Impact on the availability of resources as well as their effect on living organisms, ecosystems, and components of the environment.

Ecological Impact

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

Societal Services

VISION:
Products and services are designed for multiple use and material value retention, with maximum positive impact.

DETAIL: 
Imagine a time when…products flow via optimal collection and distribution streams into reusable and repairable product platforms. Reuse and access models are dominant, and products are designed for multiple recirculation before biodegrading (if designed to do so), or being broken down into reusable raw materials for production. People only consume what they need. Production and consumption wastes have been fully eliminated and multifunctional, season-less and timeless fashions are the norm, yet still fulfil our human need for expression and creativity without constraint. All business models, organisations, governments and citizens play a role in maintaining a healthy, functioning circular ecosystem.

Products and Services

Transforming waste products, materials for reuse within other industries

Open loop upcycling

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Activities to clean, decorate, and restore products back to working condition for original or new purposes

Refurbishment, remanufacturing, renovation

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

Reuse, repurpose, and recycle waste streams within other industries

Valorise waste streams - open loop

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Utilise bio-based, reusable, non-toxic and non-critical materials

Regenerative materials

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Archetypes

CE Materials

Materials

Nace Sectors

Topics

Urban Opportunities

Whilst no two countries are the same, there are still obvious similarities between some of them, with discernible development patterns and parallels in evidence. Common problems and shared solutions help place unique country identities and individual issues in context.

Whilst this classification is far from clear-cut and exhibits some overlap, it does underline how the discourse on transitioning to a circular economy needs to account for both differences and commonalities, if we are to arrive at a more strategic and instructive analysis. It also allows to highlight a set of key themes that are likely to be central to the countries that fall under the respective profiles. 

Country profiles (Build, Grow, Shift)

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A framework to distinguish between different country profiles and their circular transition needs.

It is 2050.  Full systems change has taken place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immediate action and radical steps taken from 2020 onwards. Many targets had to be identified in the early 2020s and achieved by 2030 to ensure that the 2050 goal happened in full. A sense of urgency, turbo stakeholder collaboration, supportive government regulation and clear, data driven targets enabled the mindsets and systems change needed to transform to a fully circular textiles ecosystem.

A circular economics model underpins what we have created. It reflects and supports a living organism made up of makers, users and restorers, interacting across vibrant and interconnected networks. Checks and balances, alongside transparency and accountability, ensure a healthy system. Financial, environmental, and social metrics have the purpose of serving communities and the planet. There is shared ownership of profit and loss – across all three metrics – throughout the value chain.

This is what we’ve achieved over the last 30 years:

WCTD Themes

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The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

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An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Test Framework

Challenges

Based on the ongoing ISO standardisation process, a taxonomy has been defined under which to cluster indicators to measure circularity. 

ISO Taxonomy

If managed well, the transition to the circular economy will have multiple benefits for the labour market, including the opening up of job opportunities, raising job standards and reducing inequalities through a global redistribution of value. But a positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three pillars: upskilling the workforce, quality of work and inclusive job opportunities. Find out more and explore cases that illustrate these pillars below.

Circular Jobs Initiative Pillars

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A positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three core pillars.

This is a survey that dives into understanding the policy environment around specific circular solutions. 

The survey is divided into five sections, based on the five key elements of the Circular Cities Action Framework. 
Each section asks 2-3 questions to explore which policies may or may not be present within your city to support a transition towards a circular economy. 

You are not alone! Each question provides some practical examples from cities around the world that have adopted a certain policy to support their transition. This can help to compare with your city - is your city doing something similar?

The survey answers should be based on your current knowledge, and not illicit additional research - ! Please make use of the Not sure option as appropriate.


Ganbatte Cities Policy Tracker [Food]

Ganbatte Cities - Policy tracker policy instruments

Policy Tracker - TEST

 Step 3 CREATE OISTRE TPU  These building blocks are combined with other ingredients to create Oistre, formulated to meet the processing and performance needs of many applications.  

Our technology upcycles polyethylene, the most widely used plastic, in the form of LDPE, HDPE, and LLDPE. You know it as grocery bags, packaging, and containers. Today, less than 9% of polyethylene is recycled and virtually none is upcycled.  

Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm focused on building the circular economy, has closed the final round of funding for its private equity wing, the Closed Loop Leadership Fund. The total of the investment round has not been disclosed. The firm says that the Closed Loop Leadership Fund portfolio now manages more than $200 million in total assets and helps keep more than 920,000 tons of recycled materials in play per year. The fund invests in best-in-class circular business models fundamental to keeping plastics and packaging, food and organics, electronics and textiles out of landfills and within a circular system. “Since its launch in 2019, the Closed Loop Leadership Fund, our buyout strategy at Closed Loop Partners, has made significant strides acquiring and building businesses at the forefront of developing circular supply chains at scale,” Closed Loop Partners founding CEO Ron Gonen said in a statement. “This final close of the Fund, which includes a number of leading investors, is a milestone for the development of the circular economy.” The fund’s strategy centers on scaling business models that advance circular supply chains. The Closed Loop Leadership Fund’s first investment was acquiring Balcones Resources, a family-owned recycling business based in Austin, Texas.
In January, the Leadership Fund led a consortium of investors to acquire the majority stake of Sims Municipal Recycling (SMR), which manages New York City’s municipal recycling contract, the largest in North America. SMR operates three recycling facilities in the New York metropolitan area and one facility in Florida.
At the time of the SMR acquisition, Closed Loop Partners said its investment was expected to further modernize circular economy infrastructure and service in the New York metro and expand the company into new markets.
Lego owner Kirkbi, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and Realdania’s investment arm are the newest investors in the fund. They join existing investors Nuveen; Nestlé; Microsoft; PepsiCo; Unilever; SK Geo Centric Co., Ltd.; donor advised funds and a series of global family offices in Closed Loop Partners’ buyout investment strategy focused on building circular economy platforms across sectors.
“Transitioning to a circular economy represents a capital shift of $4.5 trillion by 2030, according to research. There are strong tailwinds of consumer demand, cost-savings and resiliency driving the shift away from a linear economy,” Lynn Baranski, global head of investments at BlackRock Private Equity Partners, said. “Closed Loop Partners has the expertise, thought leadership and differentiated execution ability to help capture the opportunity of this shift and drive positive economic, social and environmental outcomes through its investments.”
The Leadership Fund is the largest fund to date for Closed Loop Partners, which has invested capital into businesses and innovations dedicated to reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions via materials innovation, advanced recycling technologies, supply chain optimization and landfill diversion.
Closed Loop Partners now manages more than $475 million and has made over 60 investments since its inception, including circular textile innovator Evrnu and The Renewal Workshop, which repairs and prepares merchandise for resale. To date, Closed Loop Partners says its investments have kept 3.6 million tons of materials in circulation and avoided 6.8 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Novoloop
Closed Loop isn’t the only company dedicated to the circular economy that to attract new funding. Advanced upcycling startup Novoloop is expanding on its initially announced February Series A funding round to $21 million through an oversubscribed extension led by Mistletoe Singapore and Hanwha Solutions.
This $10 million round nearly doubles Novoloop’s first raise of $11 million, which sparked the additional investor interest, the company said.
Novoloop will use the capital to begin developing industrial capabilities, including scaling up pilot production to make its Oistre product more readily available for customers in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive and electronics. Oistre is branded as the world’s only thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) made from post-consumer waste that matches the performance of TPUs derived from petrochemicals.
The upcycling startup will also use the funding to set up a feedstock pretreatment unit to assess the quality of post-consumer plastic waste from material recovery sources.
Investors include Valo Ventures’ anchor LP Fortum, a publicly traded clean energy and resource efficiency solution provider headquartered in Finland; climate technology investor SOSV; Drive Catalyst, the corporate venture arm of the polyester and textile recycling firm Far Eastern Group; and additional investors Alante Capital and S CAP.
“This round brings together mission-driven financial investors and industry strategics who believe in our vision of a circular economy for plastics,” Novoloop CEO Miranda Wang said. “We’re thrilled to make that vision a reality by leveraging their access to resources and markets around the world.”
Novoloop uses its proprietary Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition (ATOD) technology to make high-performance chemicals and materials from polyethylene, which is a commonly used yet least recycled plastic.
“Leading this round was obvious,” Mistletoe founder Taizo Son added. “After seeing Novoloop emerge from R&D with a product that solves real world problems, Mistletoe is a firm believer in the financial and environmental impact the company will create. We’re already looking at ways to amplify this impact in places that really need it like Asian countries where the economy is fast-growing and the waste problem is serious.”
Other Series A investors announced earlier this year include Envisioning Partners, Bemis Associates, and Time Ventures.


   Novoloop technology turns polyethylene waste into a virgin-quality performance polymer Novoloop/David Salpeter  
Plastics normally bound for the landfill are getting a new life from California startup Novoloop. The company upcycles polyethylene, a plastic that’s widely used but rarely recycled.  With $11 million recently raised in Series A financing and a new partnership with Bemis Associates, Novoloop’s CEO says the company is one step closer to putting out products with the first chemically upcycled plastic called Oistre.  The Novoloop plastic is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) for use in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive and electronics.  “We are going to be scaling up our tech to make more than 1 metric ton of Oistre TPU to sample with footwear and sporting goods brands,” says CEO Miranda Wang, also a cofounder.  The waste polyethylene is sourced from Southern California and partners include GreenWaste Recovery in San Jose.
Novoloop’s process technology, known as Accelerated Thermal Oxidative Decomposition, breaks down polyethylene into chemical building blocks that can be synthesized and used in high-value products.

   Oistre (pronounced OYST-rah) is named after the humble oyster, one of nature’s star waste upcyclers. Novoloop/David Salpeter  

Formerly known as XIRC, Oistre is billed as the first thermoplastic polyurethane made from post-consumer polyethylene waste that matches the performance characteristics of virgin TPUs made from petrochemicals.  What’s more, Oistre’s carbon footprint is up to 46% smaller than conventional thermoplastic polyurethanes, based on a life cycle assessment by Aspire Sustainability.  The Series A was led by Envisioning Partners with participation from Valo Ventures and Bemis Associates. Earlier investors who joined the round included SOSV, Mistletoe and TIME Ventures.
The joint partnership with Bemis aims to use the upcycled Oistre product in apparel bonding solutions such as seam tapes found in high-performance outwear. Bemis says in a news release that scaling Novoloop’s breakthrough will be “a huge step in shifting away from virgin petroleum sources and reducing our products’ carbon footprints.”
Novoloop is reportedly engaged with a number of consumer brands for footwear and apparel applications using Oistre. Those other partnerships aren’t ready to be revealed yet.
“All I can say right now is that we are initially starting with helping Bemis increase the sustainability of their seam tape product,” Wang says. “This is used for many applications including waterproofing performance outerwear. 
“The plan between us is to over time, replace all the virgin fossil-based TPU Bemis is using with Novoloop's Oistre. They are very serious about leading on this front.”
Wang notes that for every kilogram of Oistre created, 0.5 kg of polyethylene plastic waste is upcycled, and 4-5 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions is prevented. 
Novoloop is sampling and taking pre-orders for Oistre 65A, a soft grade polyester TPU for injection molding that’s especially suitable for footwear applications. Higher durometer (harder material) grades of Oistre TPU will be introduced soon.
   Members of the Novoloop team  Novoloop/Wiatrak  



Global Chemical Leader Hanwha Solutions and Taizo Son's Mistletoe Co-lead Financing to Accelerate Commercialization
MENLO PARK, Calif., June 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Advanced upcycling startup Novoloop expands its Series A to $21 million through an oversubscribed extension led by Mistletoe Singapore and Hanwha Solutions. This nearly doubles the company's raise of $11 million announced in February, which sparked additional investor interest.
"This round brings together mission-driven financial investors and industry strategics who believe in our vision of a circular economy for plastics," said CEO Miranda Wang. "We're thrilled to make that vision a reality by leveraging their access to resources and markets around the world."
The round's investors are decarbonizing energy, textiles, construction, and other industries across Europe, Asia, and the US. Valo Ventures' anchor LP Fortum is a hundred-year-old, publicly-listed clean energy and resource efficiency solution provider headquartered in Finland; SOSV is the world's leader in climate tech investing; Drive Catalyst is the corporate venture arm of the Far Eastern Group, a global player in the polyester and textile industries and PET recycling headquartered in Taiwan; and Alante Capital and S CAP are climate investors focused on deep tech.
"Leading this round was obvious," said Taizo Son, founder of Mistletoe. "After seeing Novoloop emerge from R&D with a product that solves real world problems, Mistletoe is a firm believer in the financial and environmental impact the company will create. We're already looking at ways to amplify this impact in places that really need it like Asian countries where the economy is fast-growing and the waste problem is serious."
Novoloop uses its proprietary ATOD™ technology to make high-performance chemicals and materials from polyethylene, which is the most commonly used yet least recycled plastic. Their first product, Oistre™ (pronounced OYST-rah), is the world's only thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) made from post-consumer waste that matches the performance of TPUs derived from petrochemicals.
With a carbon footprint up to 46% smaller than conventional TPUs, Oistre won the Plastics Industry Association's 2022 People's Choice award for Sustainable Plastic Innovation. It also put Novoloop in the World Economic Forum's 100 most promising Technology Pioneers of 2022.
"Hanwha has done an extensive assessment of the advanced plastic recycling landscape. Novoloop's technology is solid and unique," said Hanwha Solutions' spokesman. "We look forward to collaborating with Novoloop on upcycling carbon content in waste for the circular economy."
Novoloop will use the capital to begin developing industrial capabilities. Key initiatives include scaling up pilot production to make Oistre more readily available for customers in footwear, apparel, sporting goods, automotive, and electronics. It will also set up a feedstock pretreatment unit to assess the quality of post-consumer plastic waste from material recovery sources.
Other Series A investors announced earlier this year include Envisioning Partners, Bemis Associates, and TIME Ventures.
About Novoloop
Novoloop was founded in 2015 to deliver quality chemicals and materials made from plastic waste through ATOD™, their patented, low-carbon upcycling technology. By transforming hard-to-recycle plastic waste into virgin-quality materials, Novoloop offers superior sustainability and performance at competitive pricing. With their upcycled product Oistre™, Novoloop provides thermoplastic polyurethane solutions for footwear, sporting goods, automotive and more. To learn more, visit novoloop.com and oistre.com. 
About Hanwha Solutions
Hanwha Solutions aims to deliver sustainable solutions for the planet through smart energy solutions and customer-focused materials. The Company operates its business through five divisions: Qcells, Chemical, Advanced Materials, Galleria and City Development. The Qcells Division offers total energy solutions from photovoltaic module manufacturing, power plant operation to electricity retailing service. The Chemical Division, the first in Korea to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC), manufactures various chemical products and eco-friendly plasticizers. The Advanced Materials Division produces high-tech materials for automotive, photovoltaic and electronic devices. The Galleria Division, an operator of premium department store chain, provides premium fashion and food services. The City Development Division is a leading real estate developer specializing in industrial complexes. With its innovative technologies for sustainable growth, Hanwha Solutions strives to become a global leader in bringing a better future for humanity. For more information, visit hanwhasolutions.com/en.
About Mistletoe
Founded by Taizo Son, Mistletoe is a Collective Impact Community based in Japan and Singapore with a mission to create a sustainable human-centered future using deep technologies. Their international community comprises more than 400 entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, and visionaries who are at the forefront of the global startup movement. They are building an environment for various talents to come together and discover solutions to societal challenges that are impossible for single companies to solve alone. To learn more, visit mistletoe.co.
Contact: [email protected]
SOURCE Novoloop


<p>An advanced upcycling company, Novoloop, converts end-of-life plastic into specialty materials. The company expanded its Series A to&nbsp;$21 million&nbsp;through an oversubscribed extension led by Mistletoe Singapore and Hanwha Solutions. This nearly doubled the company's raise of&nbsp;$11 million&nbsp;announced in February, 2022, which sparked additional investor interest.</p>