The latest financial injection of €5m has brought the total amount of investment attracted by circular plastic recycler Umincorp from external sources in the period 2021-2022 to a total of €40m. The company, which has developed technology based on Magnetic Density Separation (MDS) recycles domestic plastic waste into recycled materials, says its most recent funding was provided by the National Green Fund, and is intended for the construction of an innovative rPET factory in Rotterdam.
Whereas initially, the company faced difficulties in raising external funds, which meant that the original capital was provided by the founder owners of the company, today the company is supported by a number of major investors who support Umincorp strategically and financially in its growth.
The investments demonstrate market’s the confidence in Umincorp's mission, said Jaap Vandehoek, CEO and co-founder of Umincorp.
“We see that Umincorp continues to attract large investments because our combination of innovation and results can surpass traditional recycling techniques on a large scale…We want to maintain that momentum by continuing to invest now and in the future in our techniques, people and facilities to become the market leader in this sector,” he said.
Umincorp’s MDS approach is based on flake sorting, rather than on ‘object’ sorting. The collected waste plastics are delivered to Umincorp, where, at an early stage in the process, these are shredded into flakes. Each flake consists of one type of plastic. Using MDS makes it possible to accurately separate the flakes according to type of plastic, yielding both a high recovery rate and high purity. The method results in a 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions are avoided compared to conventional methods.
Next to constructing the new factory in Rotterdam, where recycled PET will be compounded and marketed as a fully-fledged alternative to virgin plastic, the funds will also be used to invest in further optimising and running the sorting and recycling factory in Amsterdam - known as Plastic Recycling Amsterdam or PRA - at full capacity.
Umincorp is also exploring the possibilities of building a combined sorting, recycling and compounding factory in the Netherlands or elsewhere. To that end, the company will be recruiting new employees to support the furthe expansion of the organisation.