Meta has signed an agreement with plastics recycling startup MacroCycle that will help finance its first commercial plant in the U.S. The deal gives Meta rights to environmental attribute credits tied to emissions avoided through MacroCycle’s recycling process.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company says its technology produces recycled plastic with 80% fewer carbon emissions than virgin PET, a plastic commonly used in bottles, containers and textiles. MacroCycle, founded three years ago, was also a Top 20 finalist in TechCrunch’s 2025 Startup Battlefield competition.
Meta Will Pay for Avoided Emissions
Under the agreement, Meta will pay MacroCycle for the rights to emissions reductions generated by its recycling process. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that it is the first deal of this kind the company has signed.
The payments, known as environmental attribute credits, will provide MacroCycle with another source of revenue as it develops the U.S. plant. Meta can count the associated emissions reductions toward its own carbon footprint.
Meta also wants to increase demand for lower-carbon materials used in its supply chain, including plastics for packaging and hardware. MacroCycle’s first demonstration plant is expected to produce 5,000 metric tons of recycled plastic each year.
MacroCycle Uses Solvents to Recycle PET
MacroCycle processes PET from waste streams that include textiles. Textile recycling remains limited, with research published in Science Advances putting the recycling rate at about 0.5%.
The company dissolves and purifies PET using solvents instead of relying mainly on heat. Its process forms plastic polymers into closed rings called macrocycles, while solvents remove contaminants from the material.
Those rings are then opened so the polymers can be linked together again. According to MacroCycle’s company information, the process is designed to produce high-quality recycled material, while the company says the final plastic is indistinguishable from newly produced material.
Using solvents instead of heat reduces the energy required by the process, which MacroCycle expects will also lower production costs. The company aims to manufacture recycled textiles in the U.S. at prices that can compete with overseas suppliers.
U.S. apparel manufacturing employment declined 85% over a 25-year period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. MacroCycle is now working to secure buyers for the material its first plant will produce.
Co-founder and CEO Stwart Peña Feliz told TechCrunch that the Meta agreement could make later agreements with other companies easier to secure. Future MacroCycle plants are planned with annual production capacities of 50,000 metric tons.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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