Novolop’s recycled plastic is one step closer to production

Plastic recycling startup Novoloop has signed a deal with a major manufacturer to produce recycled thermoplastic polyurethane on a commercial scale, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.

The agreement helps propel Menlo Park-based Novolop through what is called “Death Valley“Which many climate tech startups have to work through.

Hardware-based startups are particularly vulnerable to getting stuck in the valley, the dreaded moment when they’ve proven their initial technology and haven’t generated enough revenue from selling their products.

Under the terms of the deal, Novolop will supply Huide Science and Technology with a chemical building block used in the manufacture of thermoplastic polyurethane. Novoloop manufactures the material, known as polyol, from post-consumer polyethylene waste such as plastic bags, one of the most difficult materials to recycle.

Thermoplastic polyurethane, or TPU, is a type of plastic used in everything from running shoes to medical devices.

“For this product line, we have basically achieved what a business relationship can be,” Miranda Wang, Novolop co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch.

At this point, Novolub’s ability to provide polyols is limited, Wang said. Earlier this year in India, the startup launched Commissioned its pilot plantWhich is capable of producing tens of tons of the material annually.

The pilot plant’s capacity is enough to produce enough TPU for “major pilot projects,” including one for a shoe customer that will be announced in the coming months, Wang said. Previously, Novolop supplied Swiss shoe manufacturer On with its Lifecycled material for the shoe tread Cloudprime sneakers.

Wang said deals like the one with Huide will be key to Novolop’s progress. “The biggest obstacle to profitability is economies of scale,” she said. “A lot of the focus next year will be getting a lot of customer deals to close so we can finance (commercial-scale) facilities.”

Once the deals and financing are completed, Novolub expects to have its commercial plant operational in early 2028, Wang said. The first version should be able to supply enough polyols to produce about 16,000 tons of TPU annually.

“When we can run the material in these types of quantities, we expect to be able to achieve price parity with raw TPU,” she said.