We didn’t need 2023’s smash hit “Barbie™” to remind us of this simple truth: our world is made of plastic. Frequently associated with water bottles and other packaged goods, plastic is a fact of life in our daily lives, from the components that power our vehicles, to our furniture, food and drinks, building materials, clothing, and more. 

Correspondingly, plastics are a massive global market. We spend $600B on plastic purchases annually and companies manufacture north of 400M tons of plastic goods per year. This is a significant market that has always functioned as a chemical supply chain: brands provide their suppliers a specific set of technical requirements and suppliers fulfill demand with a precision-made batch of the requested materials. 

The world’s leading companies and brands across sectors have agreed to aggressive plastic circularity targets by 2025, leaving sustainability and procurement teams tasked with meeting these goals seemingly overnight.  However, the post-consumer resin market is a radical departure from new resin. PCR markets are riddled with opaque supply chains and inconsistencies in price, quality, availability, and access. As a result, only 18% of companies are on track towards their goals.

To date, the push for circularity has been driven by good intentions, slow-moving regulations, and traditional business systems that have discouraged progress and thwarted profitability. While point solutions are important, the circular economy needs a systemic solution that will deliver economically attractive, practical, and dependable materials at scale in order to get the industry to truly adopt PCR and other sustainable materials. Eclipse is excited to announce the development of Circular.co, the leading sustainable sourcing platform, as it works to close a critical gap in the circular economy. With $10.5M in funding led by Eclipse, in partnership with Maniv and Oxygea, Circular is ramping up its platform that streamlines the product development, sourcing, buying, and selling of PCR materials.

Buyers transitioning to recycled materials face numerous challenges, starting with simply finding the materials they need. But the problem presents a multifaceted set of blockers: if buyers can find these materials, the materials might carry a premium. If buyers can afford the materials, there can be quality or consistency issues. Additionally, existing systems are relationship-driven and fail to provide the information necessary to empower buyers to make informed decisions quickly. Conversely, suppliers struggle to gain access to serious buyers. 

By providing access to over 9,000 global suppliers with over 50,000 PCR technical records codified using artificial intelligence — including details, such as price, specs, volume of materials, and supplier certifications — Circular offers the transparency buyers and sellers both need to navigate this otherwise opaque global market. 

Circular handles the searching, sourcing, vetting, and onboarding process for its customers, supplying results in days compared to the months or even years it can take using analog methods.

In Q4 2023, Circular sourced 35,000 tons of post-consumer recycled material with $43M gross merchandise value, supported nine global brands across four continents, and saved companies an average of more than 10% versus market price. The company also counted global sustainability innovators, such as Ikea, Danone, and The Wonderful Company, as pilot partners. With this round of funding, Circular plans to grow in its current industry, expand internationally, and add sustainable materials — including paper and metals — to continue to facilitate sustainable growth.

Circular’s newly enhanced full-stack platform creates efficiency for buyers and suppliers throughout the sourcing process with key product features, including: 

- Explore: The first self-serve tool to discover PCR materials by specification and price anywhere in the world.

- Search: Buyers connect directly with suppliers through custom digital quotes.

- Procure: Helping buyers with everything from testing and onboarding and contracting to carbon footprinting and freight.

Circular was originally launched via Eclipse’s Venture Equity, a process that leads to co-creation from the ideation stage alongside the world’s strongest founders. 

Ian Arthurs, Circular’s Founder and CEO, is a seasoned tech leader as the former COO of TaskRabbit and Medium. He was compelled to dedicate the next chapter of his career to solving one of the most complex and critical sustainability problems we face as a society. Marrying Ian’s background in marketplaces, my experience in supply chain and procurement, and Eclipse’s deep understanding of the industrial and sustainability space, we recognized the immense gap — and hence, opportunity — in materials circularity. 

The Circular team recently welcomed industry titans, Shannon Gordon, former Vice President of Customer Experience at Walmart Global eCommerce, and Rob Ianelli, Founder of Oceanworks, to help reach the company’s goal of transitioning the 400 million-ton, $600B plastics market to circularity. 

Powering a More Sustainable Future

In order for the Global Fortune 500 to hit their targets to use up to 50% PCR in the coming years, we need a capable solution to create consistency of supply, price, and quality. In a world where procurement and product teams are expected to reimagine their supply chains almost overnight, Circular makes PCR possible. 

Congratulations to Ian and the entire Circular team!

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