Renewlogy, an innovative business converting plastic waste into fuel, was already on the rise following a New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) investment from Enhanced Capital to help finance its growth. The NMTC program was created to support businesses and organizations located in low-income communities. Now the Utah-based company is able to seize on a massive opportunity emerging after China stopped accepting most U.S. scrap exports.
As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, China’s move has left many American trash haulers and recyclers in the lurch, with loads of paper and plastic accumulating in warehouses and piling up in landfills across the United States.
This is where Renewlogy comes in. The company builds facilities that are able to convert this waste into a usable fuel.
“The market glut is providing a windfall of mixed plastic for Renewlogy, a Salt Lake City company that converts scrap plastic to diesel and petrochemicals by melting it in reactors without air,” The Wall Street Journal reported June 7. “Lower production costs from continuous operations, coupled with growing production volumes, mean that a $5-million Renewlogy reactor can make money even if oil prices fall as low as $30 a barrel.”
Providing a new market for the recycling industry, companies like Renewlogy are poised for major growth, developing innovative technology, creating jobs and contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable future.
“Plastic essentially comes from oil, and we’re able to reverse the process to convert plastics back into fuel,” Renewlogy CEO Priyanka Bakaya said in Enhanced Capital’s 2018 Community Impact Report. “The process also generates its own natural gas, which we then recycle to provide enough energy to heat the system.”
Enhanced Capital saw Renewlogy’s potential before the China scrap debacle was on anyone’s radar.
By leveraging federal and state New Markets Tax Credit programs to provide Renewlogy with debt financing when it was needed, Enhanced was able to support this breakthrough industry, contributing to a cleaner, healthier environment and generating jobs along the way.
To date, Enhanced’s Utah Small Business Loan Fund has made 11 investments totaling $19.7 million – all to support job-creating businesses located in underserved communities and representing a wide range of industries.
To read more about Renewlogy and other transformative investments by Enhanced, please review our 2018 Community Impact Report.