Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
2023 Canada wildfires emissions have already doubled previous annual record (C)
The toxic aftermath of the Maui fires could last for years (WP)
Saudi Arabia is building a $500 billion luxury ski resort in the desert (SB)
Wolves are back among the sequoias! (KS)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
![Bezos-Backed Fusion Energy Startup General Fusion Raises $65 Million Bezos-Backed Fusion Energy Startup General Fusion Raises $65 Million](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66fbde41-901e-482c-b853-1259f9e8c891_700x525.png)
Dublin-based global critical minerals investment company TechMet raised a $200M equity round led by DFC and Mercuria Energy (FN)
Verdagy, a two-year-old startup based in Moss Landing, Ca., that makes industrial-sized electrolyzers, raised a $73 million Series B round co-led by Temasek and Shell Ventures. Bloomberg has more here.
Battery materials producer Mitra Chem raised a $60M Series B led by General Motors (FN)
Climate management and accounting platform Persefoni raised a $50M Series C-1 led by TPG Rise (FN)
Ceibo, a Chilean copper extraction technology startup, raised a $30M Series B led by Energy Impact Partners (BW)
General Fusion, a nuclear fusion startup, raised a $25M Series F led by BDC Capital and GIC (FN)
Kraftblock, a sustainable high-temperature energy storage startup, raised a $22M Series B led by Shell Ventures (FN)
Hydrogen electrolyzer startup Advanced Ionics raised a $12.5M Series A led by bp ventures (BW)
Caelux, a nine-year-old startup based in Pasadena, Ca., that claims it can improve the performance of any new crystalline silicon module, potentially making solar energy more cost-effective, raised a $12 million Series A round led by Temasek. More here.
Phospholutions, a startup developing sustainable fertilizer tech, raised $10.2M in funding led by Advantage Capital (BW)
Sapphire Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of energy recovery systems for hydrogen and natural gas applications, raised a $10M Series B led by Energy Capital Ventures (FN)
SkyCool Systems, a seven-year-old startup based in Mountain View, Ca., that makes panels that passively cool fluids in air conditioning and refrigeration systems, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Nadel and Gussman Ventures. More here.
ElectroTempo, an EV software company, raised a $4M seed round led by Buoyant Ventures (BW)
Clean Food Group, a food tech startup delivering sustainable oils and fats solutions, raised a $2.9M round from Doehler Group, Alianza Team, Agronomics, and SEED Innovations (FN)
AssetCool, a seven-year-old UK startup that has developed a durable photonic materials-based coating in order to cool down overhead power lines, raised a $2.85 million Series A round led by Northern Gritstone. Tech.eu has more here.
Green Theory
Where the Wild Waste Goes
If you ask, Is this recyclable?
Get ready to hear, It depends.
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In the US, nearly a quarter of all municipal solid waste gets recycled. Another 10% gets composted, but the remaining two-thirds is destined for the dump. What does the proper sorting of your waste “depend” on? Mostly where you live and what you buy.
Recycling offers one way to drawdown the impact of our manufactured goods. Not as pure as reducing production outright, or as inventive as reusing materials without processing, recycling still reforges paper, metal, glass, and more into new goods.
What’s holding back recycling?
Where you are makes all the difference in what materials may be recycled, composted, or put in the trash. Since it’s hard to rely on recycling rules outside your immediate area, content posing as recycling public service announcements confuse the scene further.
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Take this video offering “3 Tips” on items that purportedly can’t be recycled. The author, with over 150,000 followers, claims metal bottle caps are one such item. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) simply says to remove metal caps from the bottle before recycling, and check in your area if you’re unsure.
Depending on where you waste, the internet bottle cap advice is either fine, or downright incorrect. The low context of—even well-meaning—internet media boldly obscures the finer recycling details in front of worldwide audiences.
Keeping up with the Joneses’ Waste Stream
Making the task even more challenging both in daily life and for waste processing: the stream of materials continues to evolve as discarded products take on new forms with untested recyclability, shapes, and other properties. Plastic remains a stubborn category, where less than 10% of all discarded material gets recycled.
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When improperly sorted items enter the wrong waste stream—whether as brand new types of materials, or due to simple user error—entire batches of recycling or compost may be taken to the dump as a precautionary cost-saving measure. Rather than disrupt or destroy recycling machinery, for instance, a truckload of recycling could be diverted to landfill.
The EPA also cites a weak domestic market for recycled materials, with much stock exported, and limited innovative recycling partnerships across US industries, blocking recycling’s growth. Upstream, another challenge lies in the product design process, where firms are generally incentivized to ignore recyclability and reusability.
Finally, lack of measurement tools and standards makes circular economic values difficult to enforce. Though over a century of consumerism has propagated wasteful advances in packaging and manufacturing, the next century of design could champion full-lifecycle resourcefulness and functional longevity of products, with the right tools and attention.
Bin Figuring it Out
Sorting waste doesn’t seem glamorous, though getting the right stuff to the right stream can be its own ritual. Recycling may feel tedious and insignificant. It may be infuriating to navigate the rules in a new place. At the same time, recycling recoups precious resources and energy, and offers a chance to pay slightly closer attention to the objects we use most fleetingly.
To recycle responsibly, it’s essential to get grounded in your local program’s quirks. Tech media may be able to reach across the globe, from one palm to another, but progress in recycling education requires delicate attention to municipal differences. If only recycling rules could reliably go viral.
The Closer
“It’s a white pelican with a baby shark! Woot! Pelicans are scary.” -Mark Smith