Earth911 Podcast: Nexus Circular CEO Jodie Morgan on Plastic Recycling Progress

The evolution of plastic recycling is essential to cleaning up a plastic-addicted world and eliminating the need for oil extraction. Meet Jodie Morgan, CEO of Nexus Circular, who discusses the company’s progress and a flurry of news that has placed it at the forefront of the next generation of plastics recycling. In June of 2021, we talked with Jeff Gold, founder and CEO of Nexus Circular. At the time, the company had been operating a test facility for a couple of years. Nexus Circular developed an advanced chemical recycling technology that can make plastic as recyclable as metals, losing only a small percent of the material each time it is processed. By contrast, traditional mechanical recycling technologies are effective only once or twice before the plastic molecules are degraded and become useless.

Recyclable plastic does not justify buying more plastic. Still, the prospect of recycling mixed Plastics #2, #4, #5, and #6 to make new plastics means even landfilled plastics could be mined to replace raw petroleum as a feedstock. In January, Nexus raised $150 million to build additional capacity and launched a 10-year agreement to provide recycled plastic to Braskem America. In February, Nexus announced a long-term partnership with Chevron Phillips Chemical to make a circular form of polyethylene, the plastic used in food wraps, shopping bags, and detergent bottles. Given their progress, could a Nexus Circular IPO in the offing represent the first next-generation sustainable company to go public and ignite a stock market rally in green investing? You can learn more about Nexus Circular at nexuscircular.com.

Originally aired on Apr 17, 2023