L’Oréal agreement rounds out PureCycle strategic offtake partners for ultra-pure recycled polypropylene, a critical milestone for the upcoming first Commercial Plant.
With this agreement, L’Oréal becomes significant offtake partner for PureCycle in US and first offtake partner in Europe
CHICAGO, July 18, 2019 — PureCycle Technologies is announcing it has reached a definitive agreement with the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal, to supply its Ultra-Pure Recycled Polypropylene (UPRP).
This agreement results in the full subscription of the Ohio plant’s capacity and provides L’Oréal at their option to be among the first purchasers of volume out of PureCycle’s first plant in Europe. This is an important milestone for PureCycle, which is accelerating the build-out and commercialization of its technology in key global markets to keep up with demand. PureCycle’s Ultra-Pure Recycled Polypropylene is produced from a breakthrough technology that utilizes waste polypropylene that is far too often disposed of in landfills to produce virgin-like polypropylene, unlocking a truly circular economy.
“We continue to see an increasing global need for a recycled resin with virgin-like properties. With our first plant in Ohio already being sold out more than two years before the plant will be producing commercial scale volumes, this showcases the intense demand resulting in an accelerated build out of our next plant in Europe.” said Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle Technologies.
In addition to being a customer, L’Oréal becomes a strategic partner for PureCycle who is bringing consumer market knowledge, technical expertise and a global perspective to help ensure that PureCycle’s Ultra-Pure Recycled Polypropylene meets and exceeds consumer demand for a recycled resin that delivers virgin-like aesthetics and performance.
“For L’Oréal, the agreement represents a strategic next step in our sustainable packaging strategy, designed to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. L’Oréal ambition is that by 2025, 50% of the plastics used in our packaging will either be bio-sourced or of recycled origin, which encompasses all plastic types, polypropylene being a major milestone. We are convinced that it is our responsibility to support the rising of cutting-edge recycling technologies.” declared Philippe Thuvien, Vice-President Packaging and Development of the L’Oréal Group.
PureCycle is in the midst of building its first plant in Lawrence County, Ohio. The facility will recycle 119 million pounds of polypropylene, producing over 105 million pounds per year with production slated to start in 2021.
Demand for the first plant’s volume has far exceeded supply, leading PureCycle to begin planning for a second plant to keep up with demand. The company is currently evaluating locations within Europe.
PureCycle has announced that it will seek bond financing with Piper Jaffray; PureCycle has received an independent evaluation conducted by Moody’s Investor Services with respect to attaining a Green Bond Rating, achieving a rating of Excellent (GB1).
PureCycle is the first company to solely focus on recycling and reintegrating polypropylene upstream into highly sensitive consumer product applications, which are used in food and beverage packaging, consumer good packaging, automobile interiors, electronics, home furnishings, and many other products.
For L’Oréal, the eco-design of beauty products has been embedded for years into the new product development process through its 3R strategy (Respect – Reduce – Replace). As part of its sustainability program, Sharing Beauty With All, L’Oréal has committed to improve the environmental and social profile of 100% of its new products. In 2018, 79% of new or renovated products have an improved social or environmental profile.
PureCycle Technologies is a portfolio company of Innventure, a Wasson Enterprise Partnership.
About PureCycle Technologies
PureCycle Technologies offers the only recycled polypropylene with properties equal to virgin polymer. Our proprietary technology, invented by Procter & Gamble, removes color, odor, and other contaminants from recycled feedstock resulting in virgin-like polypropylene suitable for any PP market. PureCycle Technologies licenses technology from Procter & Gamble. To learn more, visit purecycletech.com.
About Innventure, a Wasson Enterprise Partnership
Innventure has more than 20 years of experience identifying disruptive technologies and creating successful new companies. The group combines the expertise of Wasson Enterprise (WE), a family-based investment firm led by former Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Greg Wasson, and XL Tech Group (XLTG), Innventure’s precursor company. The team has a long history of identifying breakthrough technology solutions that address unmet needs and have sufficient economic impact to drive and sustain changed customer behaviors. Of the 11 new companies the Innventure founders created over 20 years, 10 achieved late-stage funding, including six successful IPOs. Innventure’s initial sourcing deal with Procter & Gamble took place on December 2015. Learn more at www.innventure.com.
About L’Oreal
L’Oréal has devoted itself to beauty for over 100 years. With its unique international portfolio of 36 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 26.9 billion euros in 2018 and employs 86,000 people worldwide. As the world’s leading beauty company, L’Oréal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail and
e-commerce. Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,993 people, are at the core of L’Oréal’s strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world.
For more information: http://mediaroom.loreal.com/en/
To find out more on L’Oréal actions on sustainable packaging: https://sharingbeautywithall.loreal.com/innovating/optimising-packaging
