Circulate Capital And USAID Team Up To Fight Ocean Plastic Pollution

The partnership will incentivize private capital investment in the recycling value chain in South and Southeast Asia.

AsianScientist (Jun. 11, 2019) – Circulate Capital, the investment management firm that incubates and finances companies involved in plastic waste management in South and Southeast Asia (SSEA), has announced a blended finance partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to combat ocean plastic pollution.

Through this new agreement, USAID will provide up to a US$35 million, 50 percent loan-portfolio guarantee through the Development Credit Authority (DCA) to incentivize private capital investment and new business development in the recycling value chain in SSEA.

The public sector support from the USAID partnership enhances the private sector support that Circulate Capital has received to combat ocean plastic, which amounts to more than US$100 million committed by corporations including PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Dow, Danone, Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company.

At least 50 percent of the total investments covered by the USAID guarantee will be used for loans in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, where USAID’s Municipal Waste Recycling Program supports local partners in reducing ocean plastic pollution. These countries contribute disproportionately to ocean plastic pollution primarily because they often lack the critical waste infrastructure to manage the plastic waste, some produced locally and the rest imported from overseas.

“By blending private and public sector capital, our partnership with USAID will accelerate and expand the magnitude of the impact we can achieve beyond anything we could do separately,” said Mr. Rob Kaplan, founder and CEO of Circulate Capital. “By financing companies, innovations and projects that prevent ocean plastic in South and Southeast Asia, we will stop ocean plastic at its source and remove capital as a barrier to critical waste and recycling infrastructure development.”


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Source: USAID and Circular Capital; Photo: Pixabay.
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