Meta Deal Helps MacroCycle Move Toward Its First Commercial Plastics Recycling Plant

Meta has signed a new agreement with MacroCycle, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based plastics recycling startup, to help accelerate development of MacroCycle’s first commercial plant. Under the agreement, Meta will pay MacroCycle for rights to avoided emissions, allowing Meta to count the reduction toward its own carbon footprint. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that this is the first such deal the company has signed.

MacroCycle says it has developed a way to process plastic waste that removes contaminants and makes the resulting recycled material more attractive to customers. The company says its technology generates 80% fewer carbon emissions than new, non-recycled virgin PET plastic, a common material used in bottles, containers, and textiles. Its process dissolves and purifies PET from waste streams, including textiles, then reforms polymers into higher-quality plastic that the company says is indistinguishable from new plastic.

Payments through environmental attribute credits, or EACs, will provide MacroCycle with revenue that can support construction of its first commercial plant, which will be built in the U.S. MacroCycle says its demonstration plant will be capable of producing 5,000 metric tons of recycled plastic per year. The company is currently working to secure buyers for the material the plant will produce.

Meta’s interest extends beyond credits: the company hopes to help create a market for low-carbon materials, including plastics used in packaging and hardware across its supply chain. If that market grows, broader access to lower-carbon materials could help reduce Meta’s overall carbon footprint. MacroCycle co-founder and CEO Stewart Peña Feliz told TechCrunch the Meta deal should make subsequent agreements with other companies easier to obtain.