Dive Brief:
- GreenMantra Technologies, a Canadian chemical recycling company, has received a $10 million loan from the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, a catalytic private credit arm of Closed Loop Partners. GreenMantra will use the loan to purchase new equipment and increase processing capability at its Brantford, Ontario, facility.
- GreenMantra uses a depolymerization process to turn what it says are “hard to recycle” PE and PP plastics into specialty waxes and polymer additives. With money from the loan, GreenMantra expects to increase output of specialty products by about 50%.
- Closed Loop has backed GreenMantra several times, including a $3 million investment in 2017 that the company used for a plant expansion project. Earlier this year, GreenMantra also received a separate $3.8 million in funding from the Canadian government as part of a green manufacturing initiative.
Dive Insight:
Chemical recycling, also known as molecular or advanced recycling, is an umbrella term for a range of technologies that process plastics down to their molecular building blocks to be used in new products.
Closed Loop sees chemical recycling as one of numerous tools needed to accelerate improvements in recycling systems, the firm said in a news release.
“Optimizing plastics recovery in North America requires diversified solutions––including mechanical and molecular recycling technologies in the region. These solutions must work collaboratively and meet the standards needed for economic viability, and environmental and human health impact,” said Jennifer Louie, managing director of the Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, in a statement.
The loan is a continuation of Closed Loop Infrastructure Group’s ongoing interest in funding and monitoring chemical recycling projects. Its Circular Plastics investment strategy, which finances projects that improve PP and PE recovery in the U.S. and Canada, is backed in part by Dow and LyondellBasell, companies that are developing their own chemical recycling projects.
GreenMantra launched 15 years ago as a manufacturer of specialty performance additives that are used in roofing and other applications. The company works with a variety of U.S.-based roofing manufacturers and departments of transportation, a company spokesperson said in an email.
“We’re now expanding commercial capacity for our products to meet growing demand––transforming even more recycled plastics into high-performing materials, and keeping valuable resources in circulation,” said Domenic Di Mondo, GreenMantra’s CEO, in a statement.
Following this investment round, GreenMantra plans to “pursue near-term geographic expansion opportunities” and other opportunities to scale its products, the company said.
Closed Loop continues to support GreenMantra through the new $10 million loan, in part because the company “demonstrates a resilient business model, a technically proven process and a clear path to scale,” Louie added.
Closed Loop has been following the chemical recycling industry for several years In 2020, it created the Advanced Recycling Innovator Program, meant to identify key investments in the sector that could scale such technologies. It tapped GreenMantra, along with other companies such as Brightmark and PureCycle Technologies, for the program.
Closed Loop has also invested in PureCycle Technologies, a company that produces recycled resin using a solvent process. PureCycle paid off its loan in 2020.
As the sector draws more funding, it also draws criticism from some environmental groups that say the technologies are a source of pollution and don’t deliver on the promise of recycling on a large scale. Some chemical recycling companies, such as Brightmark, have faced financial challenges in recent years.
The Closed Loop Infrastructure Group also provides funding for mechanical recycling-related projects. Eureka Recycling received a $10 million loan from the fund in 2024 to complete a major MRF upgrade. The infrastructure fund also contributed to a range of municipal recycling infrastructure projects in Virginia, Iowa and Missouri in 2023.
