Hamburg-based start-up cirplus has entered into the UK market in a bid to digitalise the plastic and recycling industry.
The firm offers “a global end-to-end marketplace for the cost-effective, transparent and reliable procurement of plastic recyclates and plastic waste in untransparent, highly-fragmented markets”.
Founded in 2018 by Christian Schiller and Volkan Bilici, cirplus is backed by leading climate tech and marketplace investors from the UK, Europe and the US.
The platform combats plastic pollution by “galvanising the use of high-quality, recycled content within industry and therefore drastically reduces the need for virgin plastic”.
The firm is announcing its activity in the UK following the introduction of the UK Plastic Packaging Tax, which sees plastic packaging with less than 30 percent recycled content charged at £200 per tonne. Coming into force on April 1st 2022, the tax increases costs for packaging companies who fail to use recycled materials by 20 to 40 percent.
“Bringing much needed standardisation and digitalisation to the sector, cirplus connects manufacturers with recyclers and waste owners to close the loop for plastic based on the newly developed standard – DIN SPEC 91446 – for high-quality recycling.”
The standard presents plastic recyclates as a viable product for companies and increases demand for them and stimulates the recycling market by ensuring organisations can obtain recylates with confidence tested against a recognised international standard, seeing recycled plastics for use and digital trading classified based on data quality levels.
Since launching in March 2020, cirplus says it has brought over 1200 companies from 100 countries onto its platform, and has built an inventory of more than 1.3 million tons of recycled plastics listed for sale. Brands and converters can specify their procurement needs in order to secure materials and give important signals to the recycling industry where exactly demand is heading and what quantities are needed.
Schiller said: “We’re delighted to move into the UK market, with The Government’s Plastic Packaging Tax showing a real desire to inspire a shift away from virgin plastic towards a circular economy for the material.
“If we’re to stem the tide of plastic pollution, we have to stop the amount of virgin plastic which is being produced. But until now there has been little to break the status quo and persuade industry to use high-quality recyclates instead of newly made plastic.”
The company claims to change that. “Thanks to our platform digitising the supply chain based on industrial standard classification, we’re connecting the dots between recyclers, plastics converters and brands, enabling companies to confidently use recycled plastic.”
For more information visit https://www.cirplus.com/en.
