Recycling investment firm moves deeper into e-scrap

ERI this week received private equity funding from investment firm Closed Loop Partners. ERI’s chairman says the capital will help the processor deploy advanced processing equipment at its facilities.

Closed Loop Partners on July 14 announced its “significant strategic investment” in ERI. The New York City-based investment firm said the partnership will “strengthen innovative circular economy supply chains.”

An ERI spokesman declined to share the investment dollar figure.

Closed Loop Partners has a handful of investment funds, including those providing low- or no-interest loans, private equity injections and more. The ERI investment is part of Closed Loop’s Leadership Fund, the private equity segment of the organization that was established in 2019. The Leadership Fund previously invested in a municipal recycling operation in Texas.

Although Closed Loop is better known in the municipal solid waste and plastics recycling sectors, it entered the electronics recycling space in 2017 with an investment in Curb My Clutter, which has since rebranded as Retrievr. The company provides on-demand home collection of electronics and textiles. It also invested in equipment and technology company AMP Robotics, which supplies ERI with robotic sortation equipment.

In a statement to E-Scrap News, John Shegerian, ERI’s co-founder and chairman, said the partnership will help ERI make facility investments and may open the door for the company to work with additional customers.

“Two companies already supported by the Closed Loop Fund, AMP Robotics and Retrievr, are already long-time partners with ERI, and we look forward to partnering and exploring more synergistic opportunities with other great brands, as well as with the many terrific iconic companies that are Closed Loop Partners investors, who can become potential clients of ERI,” Shegerian said.

“The funding will help us with our continued innovation and technological enhancements,” Shegerian added. “There will be more AI and robotics, enhancements to our proprietary online tracking software, further North American and ultimately international expansion in our future.”

In addition to the capital, the partnership brings Closed Loop Partners CEO Ron Gonen onto ERI’s board of directors. Shegerian said that having Gonen, who formerly served as deputy commissioner of sanitation in New York City, on ERI’s board will be a “tremendous asset” to the company.

ERI also this week announced it is looking to hire an additional 100 long-term employees across seven of its locations.