This is part of our occasional series on CFOs’ first day on their current job.
Ever feel like you’re failing at recycling? Do you ever put types that don’t go together in the same bin? Fail to check whether those types are, you know, actually recyclable in your area? Try to recycle something that’s not the cleanest? (Um, not that we would ever do such a thing.)
Point is, recycling plastic is complicated. That’s one reason why so little of it actually gets a second life. Only 4.7% of household plastic waste is recycled in the US, according to Greenpeace.
Resynergi, a California-based startup, is trying to change all that. It’s constructing modules that use microwaves to break down plastics into pyrolysis oil—a substance that can be used as fuel or be converted into other plastic products. The reactors in its modules can handle even plastics that aren’t recycled that readily, such as #4 and #5 plastics, as well as dirty plastics.
What’s more, the modules are portable. Most other existing pyrolysis facilities are built on-site and plastic waste must be shipped to them, which is both difficult and expensive, said Jens Umehag, Resynergi’s CFO and COO. Resynergi’s modules “fit on the back of a truck. They’re like a container: very modular, flexible, and quick to scale,” Umehag said. In the future, the company plans to sell them to municipal recycling facilities.
Resynergi’s main goal is to “make a dent in the plastic waste that’s all around us,” said Umehag, who came on board in January 2024.
He spoke with CFO Brew about why he took the role, what his early days were like, and what advice he’d give fellow CFOs for raising capital.
Click here for more on getting started as a CFO.—CV
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