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.
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.
