Anew
Challenging the single-use plastic industry by producing plant-based biomaterials and launching 'Recircle' - a closed-loop system for reuse and recycling.
Fund: Te Pae ki te Rangi
Transaction Summary
Fund: Te Pae ki te Rangi
Date Invested: April 2022 (Seed) | November 2024 (Bridge)
Instrument: Equity Investment
IRIS+ Category: Pollution | Pollution Prevention - FMCG
Why We Invested
The packaging industry runs on materials designed to be used once and discarded. Anew is changing that. Not by swapping one material for another, but by rethinking what packaging is made of and what happens to it afterward.
Anew produces biomaterial alternatives to PET, glass, and aluminium, with water bottle production as the initial focus. The material itself sequesters carbon during production. That's the starting point. What makes the model even more compelling is Recircle: Anew's closed-loop system that enables packaging to be collected, washed, sterilised, and reused. Recircle has been built in partnership with Will&Able, a disability work-integration social enterprise, which means the infrastructure creating environmental value is also creating jobs for people who are frequently excluded from paid employment.
Systemic problems need systemic ambition. Anew isn't optimising at the margins. They're building the commercial infrastructure for a different kind of packaging industry. That's what drew us in. Since our first investment, they've expanded into markets across Australia, Asia and the US. The thesis is holding.
Measuring What Matters
Problem:
Single-use packaging causes damage twice: in production, and in disposal.
What:
Biomaterial alternatives to traditional packaging, starting with water bottles, replacing PET, glass, and aluminium with materials that sequester carbon as they're made.
Who:
Everyday consumers who've decided they want a better option, for the environment, for their health, or both.
How Much:
Scale: end users who've chosen an Anew bottle over a single-use alternative.
Depth: the shift in consumer behaviour from purchasing single-use products to reusing.
Duration: Te Taiao benefits continuously. Carbon is sequestered at production and the benefit holds as long as individuals keep choosing Anew.
Contribution:
PHA material R&D and a carbon-sequestering production process that didn't exist in this form before. Alternatives to plastic aren't new. This one is.
Impact Risk:
Two outcomes, both positive. More bottles produced means more carbon sequestered; bottles reused means resources preserved.
Impact Measures:
Avoided emissions (kg CO2e): the quantitative difference between choosing Anew and choosing PET, glass, or aluminium. Carbon sequestered (kg CO2e): carbon captured in each bottle's production. Qualitative insights: industry and consumer engagement data gathered as Recircle rolls out across Aotearoa.
