Batech Seeks Crowdfunding for Recycling Tech
Batech, a clean-technology company focused on advanced recycling, has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on the Wefunder platform. The move allows individual investors to participate in the company's efforts to scale its recycling infrastructure.
- Batech's technology targets high-moisture, contaminated plastic waste streams that traditional recycling systems cannot handle, specifically "hydropulp" from paper and cardboard recycling facilities and waste from wet wipe manufacturers. The company, founded in 2019, is based in Roanoke, VA, and holds a patent-pending for its process. - The equity crowdfunding campaign is structured as a convertible note with a $19.975 million valuation cap, offering an opportunity for non-traditional investors to take a position in the company's growth. - The company's business model includes selling recycled Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) in pellet or block form to chemical recyclers and also has the in-house capability for injection molding to manufacture products like clothes hangers and fence pickets. - The addressable market for Batech's feedstock is significant; the global paper packaging market is projected to exceed $630 billion by 2034, and the global wet wipes market is expected to surpass $37 billion by 2030, both contributing to the generation of hard-to-recycle wet plastic waste. - In the Turkish market, the competitive landscape for advanced recycling includes Biotrend Energy, which is building a facility using Honeywell's UpCycle Process Technology to convert 30,000 metric tons of mixed plastic waste into recycled polymer feedstock annually. - This initiative aligns with Turkey's "Zero Waste" project, which was launched in 2017 and aims to increase the country's recycling rate to 35%. The project has already contributed over $2 billion to the Turkish economy through material and food savings. - The broader European market for plastic waste management is projected to grow to $15.42 billion by 2031, with chemical/advanced recycling identified as the fastest-growing service segment. This growth is driven by regulations such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which mandates full recyclability for all packaging by 2030. - Other Turkish startups in the circular economy space include Evreka, which provides waste collection monitoring and software, Biolive, which develops bio-based plastics from olive waste, and Fazla, which offers holistic waste management solutions.
