Dive Brief:

• Minnesota-based Eureka Recycling has received a $9.9 million financial package from the Closed Loop Fund, RSF Social Finance and Calvert Foundation, as reported by Environmental Leader.
• The funds will be used to buy new equipment for the company's single-stream material recovery facility in Minneapolis and new vehicles to use in its local collection fleet.
• This marks the Closed Loop Fund's 10th investment so far and comes after reviewing close to 150 proposals over the past 18 months. In a blog post, managing director Rob Kaplan called Eureka a model for other applicants "because it demonstrates the heights recycling can reach with the right operations and business model."

Dive Insight:

These investments come as Eureka has begun processing recyclables from Minneapolis — and soon from St. Paul — after beating Waste Management for contracts earlier this year. St. Paul's program will also be assisted with a recent grant from The Recycling Partnership to purchase new RFID-enabled carts.

The nonprofit recycler was seen as the best option to help achieve local "zero waste" goals for a variety of factors, but its core mission that "waste is preventable, not inevitable" made it stand out. Eureka's MRF already converted to single-stream in 2014 but these new funds will allow it to expand the capabilities further. Having the best material possible is a key part of the model used by other nonprofit recycling operations as well.

This is the latest in a series of investments that the Closed Loop Fund has facilitated since it launched in 2014. Per a recent report the organization has attracted an estimated $50 million in co-investments and helped divert 50,000 tons of material so far. As municipalities struggle with the costs of adjusting their programs to achieve high diversion rate goals, more investments like this may be required in the future.