Circular’s 2024 Impact: Sustainability, Growth, and ROI | December Newsletter

2024 was an incredible year for Circular.co. Our platform helped global brands like Walmart, Schneider Electric, Coca-Cola, Stellantis, and Braskem see how data, software and transparency can make sourcing sustainable materials efficient and cost effective. 

Before getting into our annual highlights, I’d like to share my thoughts on a question I’ve been asked a lot in Q4 – “Isn’t sustainability in a tough spot?” News headlines like “Trump Will Bury ESG, But It Was Already Dead” and “Plastics Treaty Stalls,” understandably create consternation among circularity observers.   

‍I believe there’s never been a better moment for sustainability. Why? Because the near future, post-zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), will require sustainable solutions to be clearly financially attractive. In the same way scarce capital creates leaner, sharper ideas and execution, I think political and economic pressure on sustainability efforts will develop fewer, better, financially viable options that drive efficiency, push green premiums down and adoption up.

We see this in our daily work with brands and manufacturers. Almost to a tee, these global powerhouses are focused on: 

• Capturing growth from rising consumer demand for sustainable products
• Building robust and efficient post-consumer recycled (PCR) / sustainable materials supply chains 
• Driving real scalable results from experiments 

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The time has come: rubber, meet road. 

Conversations around sustainability are no longer about activism but about practical efficient action: “how can we adopt PCR to satisfy demand, and meet financial targets?” It’s obvious from where I sit that sustainable solutions like PCR will need to clearly drive profitable growth to succeed, and those who do will create distinct competitive advantage. 

This is only a taste of our discussions here at Circular, an “aperitif” if you will. We’ll share a data-driven deep dive in January to kick start the new year ahead. 

With that out of the way, back to the 2024 highlight reel.

With the need for financial viability in mind, I am most proud of the material ROI Circular’s platform has clearly created for blue chip customers in 2024. To illustrate, see below for one major manufacturer’s experience sourcing PCR in EU:

We’ve now seen this same success story repeated across multiple customers. As an early-stage software CEO, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing the tangible value we’ve helped create. This is our time to expand and grow! 

Building on that momentum, we’ve made remarkable strides in 2024, including expanding our product offerings and growing our team. Here are a few highlights, as selected by the team:

• Drove Buyer Impact – Built high ROI use cases for brands and manufacturers across diverse industries, including retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), automotive, and industrial materials. These efforts spanned every major geography and point in the PCR value chain, resulting in >570 RFQs and 11% average material savings. You can read more about our  industry impact and how we were awarded a Golden Ticket at Walmart’s Open Call to drive circular supply chains and sustainable sourcing. 
• Built Supplier Value – Engaged with hundreds of recyclers to provide new sales opportunities for long term contracts, lowered sales costs, and shared access to valuable cohort market data. 
• Strengthened Our Robust Data Platform – Made major leaps in our product offering including: rich data analytics; refreshed data model for more accurate supplier matches; AI tools collected data on 2000+ new recycled materials; expanded communication and collaboration hub to smooth buyer/supplier transactions; Circular cohort price indices; % PCR blend data projections. 
• Laid Industry / R&D Foundations – Partnered with United States Plastics Pact (USPP), Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Recycled Material Alliance (ReMA) to harmonize resin technical specs, and teamed up with AI leaders to develop the future of sustainable materials recipe formulation.‍
• Doubled Team (& Coffers) – Onboarded highly skilled and responsive teams in Asia and Europe. Powering all this, we received key funding from industry experts Maniv, Oxygea, and, Eclipse, as seen in Recycling Today (x2)

😅 Phew!

To all our customers, suppliers, partners, investors, and friends, thank you for making 2024 so special. We look forward to a big 2025 as we continue to expand and grow. More to come on that in January. 

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Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, 
Ian 

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