Arqlite, solving the problem of plastics

Businessman, environmental crusader, and successful entrepreneur. Passionate and dedicated to developing practical technological environmental sustainability solutions to protect the global natural environment, human and ecological health while driving innovation and not compromising quality of life.
 
Trusted advisor to large international companies as they create and manage corporate actions to promote sustainability programs across the globe. Visionary who founded and is building proprietary recycling technology plants to solve the world’s non-recyclable products stockpile. Welcomed by the California state, Orange County and the city of Santa Ana to bring the first Arqlite facility to the United States.

More than 40% of plastics are considered as un-recyclable because of their composition or to the high costs associated with existing technologies.
Arqlite has developed a new process that differs from standard solutions as it is low cost, with recycling fees competitive to landfill tipping fees, and capable of processing mixed plastics.

The very first product from this technology is an artificial gravel for light concretes and drainage systems that has already been validated in Argentina, where 50 tons of recycled gravel are sold every month.

In order to increase the size of the markets we need to to more R&D on both the process and the gravel to make it even smaller and better interlocking. This evolution of the product will make it suitable for structural concretes which are right now limited to use mineral gravel quarried from mountains or rivers, growing the solution exponentially.

More than 300 million tons of plastics are discarded every year and only 9% are recycled. Arqlite has developed the first commodity ever made from mixed plastic waste. We call it Arqlite Smart Gravel. A large scale solution for a large scale problem. Gravel has many scalable uses: coarse aggregate for concretes, filler for drainage layers and gas venting, substrate for hydroponics and many more.

Our technology targets laminates, aluminized, degraded, unidentified, all kinds of plastics that other wise would have ended at a landfill, a dump or what's even worse a water course.

The technology and markets were already validated in Argentina and we are now working on the opening of a new facility in California with plans to grow the production capacity ten times. Our feedstock comes mainly from plastic manufacturers and from the rejected streams resulting from separation at Material Recycling Facilities.

Arqlite Smart Gravel is currently limited to light, non-structural concretes and landscaping projects.
By focusing on R&D, we want to take our gravel to the next level by reducing the size and modifying its shape to make it interlock better, helping to an even better performance when used as aggregate in concrete. For this we need to work on Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering and Lab Testing.
Light concretes represent 5-7% of the concrete industry. We want to target also the structural ones to be able to access the other 93% and turn this technology into the #1 solution for plastic pollution.

Pollution is a global problem that affects every human being and animal on the planet. But as with many other things the poor and unprotected are the most affected as they live closer to polluted water courses, dumps and incinerators. Arqlite is already solving the problem of plastics and now is looking to collaborate with Solve to multiply that impact in order to scale the solution globally. 

Arqlite started in 2015 with only a powerpoint. Over the following 4 years, we developed a new technology in Argentina's turbulent conditions. We are currently opening a facility in the US that is 10x times bigger than our flagship site. We have validated customer demand from both recycling and gravel.

We've received awards from Chile, Argentina, France and the US and have secured a partnership with UCLA for joint development. We've been invested in by companies like Coca-Cola, Arcor and Cemex. We are proud of our traction but we need some help to take this to the next level.

Everything started in 2012 with the creation of B-Green, my
environmental consultancy agency in Argentina. I managed to align companies like Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Danone to work
under more sustainable standards.

It was at that point when I realized the big problem that laminated plastics posed. Laminates represent more than 40% of the total packaging we use everyday and were impossible to recycle under existing technologies. Because I've always been an entrepreneur and a problem solver, I started researching for a solution for these materials I could offer to my clients at B-Green.

I needed to learn about construction, civil engineering, plastics, lab research and many more things. And more importantly I learned how to build great teams to get to the best solutions. I knew nothing about construction or civil engineering but I new I wanted to solve the problem of plastics through a large scale solution. I was convinced the construction industry had the scale we needed so everything began by trying to imitate one of the most commonly used products: Gravel.

In my case, passion began with awareness. I've been always concerned about the environment, like turning off the faucet when brushing my teeth or turning off the light when leaving a room.

Things became more serious when I started studying Environmental Consultancy. Learning about the global environmental issues and being able to quantify them was the game changer for me. There was no way I could stay still after having known about so many things that needed to be solved for us and for our future generations.

If you add to that that I've always been an entrepreneur... that's an explosive combination of passion and action.

I'm a businessman and an entrepreneur with Marketing and Environmental background. Managed to develop a proprietary innovative process on the adverse Argentine market.

Some of my awards include: Fledge, Echoing Green, Startup Chile, Cemex Ventures, NYC Curb-to-Market Challenge, Plug and Play, IDB+MIT...

In the last year I've closed deals with Cemex, Coca-Cola, Arcor, US Concrete and UCLA among others. I've recently been approved an O (Special Skills) Visa in the US to bring our solution to California.

Being an entrepreneur is dealing with constant adversity as you are always short of resources (human, cash, time, etc). An adversity that everyone is facing: COVID-19. I moved to the United States two days before Argentina closed their borders and cancelled all flights into and out the country. That means I got stuck on the other side of the world just in time.

The plan was to set all our equipment and begin production in May. COVID-19 stopped everything: permits, laboratories, workforce and more. Our production was delayed for October. We shifted our mindset and turned this time into an opportunity: we partnered with the UCLA for joint R&D; incorporated invaluable advisors to our board; renewed our website, our packaging, our story; started the biggest battery of lab testing ever; reached our to the biggest players in the US.

So adversity and opportunity go hand in hand.

Great leaders attract great talent and that's how Arqlite achieved its most difficult milestones. With very few resources, we have managed to work with a Mechanical Engineer, an Industrial Engineer, a Materials Engineer and an Industrial Designer, top of the line experts, vital parts of the Arqlite team, among many other great assets working for the company. Recruiting these talents as well as leading them under Arqlite's mission has been my best quality.

There are many solutions for plastics being developed all around the world and we celebrate them all as they address different situations through different approaches.

However, Arqlite is the only one already solving the problem of plastics at a 1tn/hour rate, at a competitive cost to landfill tipping fees.

Arqlite's impact is measured by the tonne. For every tonne of plastic waste we receive we create 1 tonne of Arqlite Smart Gravel which is then destined to different applications.

Since February 2019 when we went to market we have been producing 40 tn/mo on one a one-shift operation in Argentina.

In October we'll be starting operations in the US and ramping up capacity up to 1,500 tn/mo.

1 tn of gravel = 1 tn of plastic out of the environment = millions of people and animals protected

Arqlite gravel is just the tip of the iceberg. There are more products to come based on the same technology.

And we plan to scale this solution to every city around the world through self-owned facilities in strategic locations and a licensing system for a broader reach.

Our main barrier has been to prove the product's benefits. We've done that in Argentina and we are now in the process of validating it in the US.

US standards work as global standards so it will work as a platform to go global.

Raising capital is also a barrier which requires a lot of effort and dedication but it has been easier an easier over time as we show trajectory and strong partners.

By partnering with big players: Consumer brands, construction companies, waste management companies and cities around the world.

Big players are capable of multiplying the positive effect of startups by providing a broader reach, a stronger communication and many times access to capital.

Cemex, Coca-Cola, Arcor, UCLA, Echoing Green, Plug & Play, Fledg

Arqlite has a double revenue model: 

i) We CHARGE big plastic waste generators to help them solve their problem of plastics. This means that instead of paying for our raw material we get paid for it. Our rates are prices competitive to what they are already paying a a landfill tipping fee ($60/tn)

ii) We sell the gravel to different markets with an average price of $60/cubic yard

Our revenue stream comes from our recycling services and our gravel sales. For a 1,500 tn/mo facility breakeven is reached on 600 tn/mo.

Funds raised:

2015 $20k Fledge: equity

2015 Series Seed $200k: equity

2016 $10k IADB: grant

2016 $80k Echoing Green: Soft loan

2017 $30k Startup Chile: grant

2017 $50k Ministry of Production Argentina: grant

2018 $600k Convertible Notes

2019-2020 $1.7M Series A

We've already raised $1.7M from a total of $2.5M on our Series A and looking to raise the final $800k

We'd love to work together with MIT Solve to increase the performance of our technology in order to scale the business, make it more attractive and thus more easy to replicate around the world.

We can use capital, human resources to grow our team, mentorship, lab technical resources and commercial networking. And of course the publicity.

Arqlite's current stage of growth requires recruiting the best team. We'll need great people working on engineering and business development. Building a strong board is also very important at this point, as well as building strong commercial partnerships with big players.

Consumer brands, construction companies, waste management companies, municipalities, laboratories and universities.