TerraCycle announces $25M investment into Loop Global Holdings

TerraCycle, which serves as a Trenton, New Jersey-based manager of Loop Global Holdings LLC, announced Dec. 8 that it has completed a Series A capital raise of $25 million for its global reuse platform, Loop. According to the company, investors include P&G, Nestlé, SUEZ, Aptar, Sky Ocean Ventures, ImpactAssets and Quadia.

Loop was founded and is managed by TerraCycle, which operates specialty recycling services in 20 countries. Loop works with consumer product companies, retailers, cities and facilities to recycle products and packages that would otherwise be incinerated, including contact lenses, beauty care products, coffee capsules, oral care products, cigarette butts and PPE.

"Given Loop's global momentum and the limited amount of capital being raised, it was important for us to pick partners who firmly believe in Loop's mission to establish modern-day reuse systems," TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky says. "With this community of partners, Loop is the beginning of the end of disposability, making reuse a viable and accessible option for CPGs, retailers and consumers."    

"P&G has successfully partnered with TerraCycle for over a decade. This led to P&G becoming the first investor and the first consumer packaged goods company to participate in Loop, with several of our leading global brands, including Pantene. Today's announcement is an important milestone in our mission to enable responsible consumption at scale," says Robert van Pappelendam, senior vice president, Global Hair Care, Procter & Gamble. "We believe the time is now to create disruptive actions that drive the mindset shift required for truly responsible consumption. Creating products that work well is not enough: they must also respect the environment and improve our quality of life."

Launched in May 2019, Loop enables consumers to shop for products in durable packaging that is used, cleaned, refilled and used again, and then fully recyclable after 20 to 100 uses. According to the company, it enables brands to develop more valuable and distinctive products and packaging and provides consumers with more beautiful, functional and "milk-man model" deposit and return packaging. To date, Loop has enlisted over 100 brands globally and offers over approximately 400 products.

"Reusability involves profound changes in the way people shop and consume. In collaboration with Loop, we have been introducing reusable options to our consumers for different types of products, including ice cream, water and pet care," says Antonia Wanner, head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy and Deployment Unit at Nestlé. "This new investment in Loop will help accelerate the delivery of products in zero-waste packaging. Reusable options are an important part of Nestlé's broader set of actions to meet our commitment of making 100 percent of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025."

Loop is available in the continental United States, the United Kingdom and France. By the end of 2021, Loop will also be operating in Canada, Japan and Australia and will be available in approximately 1,000 retail stores in five countries.

TerraCycle is developing other solutions to reduce and eliminate waste to coincide with a global green recovery after COVID-19, and has just launched a capital raise of $150 million for TerraCycle Inc., the global parent company to help with that effort.