ImpactAlpha, March 25 – As Asia’s consumer class grows, so does the waste it produces. Blue Planet Environmental Solutions is trying to reinvent the waste stream so that zero waste ends up in a landfill. It raised $25 million from investment bank Nomura.
Blue Planet’s strategy focuses on integrating the waste stream by buying up technologies and other companies that handle collection, sorting and processing. For example, the company recently acquired Malaysian industrial waste management company Globecycle Holding and bought India-based organic waste processing company Xeon Waste Managers. By managing the entire process, Blue Planet says it’s able to recycle and upcycle more discarded materials.
Blue Planet has previously been backed by the Neev Fund, a partnership between the State Bank of India and the U.K.’s DFID.
Other investors are seizing opportunity in Asia’s circular economy. Corporate-backed Circulate Capital is tackling ocean plastic and other waste issues in Asia (see, “Catalyzing capital to prevent plastic waste”). Impact investor Aavishkaar has backed India-based recycling venture Nepra in multiple funding rounds. KKR’s $1.3 billion Global Impact Fund invested in India-based waste management firm Ramky Enviro Engineers as one of its first deals.
