Recycllux is tackling marine plastic pollution with a platform connecting companies seeking to offset their plastic footprint with the local cleanup capacity.
From the more than 400 million tonnes of plastic that are produced yearly worldwide, more than 10 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers, and seas annually, UN data shows. As awareness of the issues stemming from plastic pollution is increasing, so are various regulatory measures meant to address it. For many companies, this means complying with additional norms and stricter sustainability reporting standards.
Romanian-born startup Recycllux has developed a platform that connects companies seeking to offset their plastic footprint with existing local cleanup capacity. The startup has developed a proprietary AI model that uses satellite data to identify areas of plastic accumulation at sea. Its platform matches these pollution spots with the local cleanup capacity, such as fishing vessels, coastal NGOs, recyclers, repurposing partners, and even schools through waste-to-art contests. The process, which is tracked on blockchain, comes not only with reduced emissions and the creation of jobs, but also allows companies to access real-time KPIs such as collected volumes, plastic types, CO₂ savings, and recycling rates. Companies can thus quantify more easily their plastic offsetting efforts and integrate the KPIs displayed in the Recycllux dashboard into their compliance and sustainability reporting, the company explains.
The platform created by Recycllux is now operational thanks to the support received this year. The startup received USD 125,000 in grant funding from the Social Tides GrowAI Accelerator, USD 25,000 in Google Cloud credits, and EUR 110,000 in in-kind support from the InnoNext program, a collaborative initiative powered by the European Innovation Council that offers startups access to highly specialized research talent. Together with previous funding, the total support received by Recycllux now reaches nearly EUR 400,000, enabling the company to expand its team and move from prototype to full-scale platform ready for pilot deployment.
The startup recently launched its first cleanup intervention in Constanța, on the Romanian Black Sea coast. At the time of this interview, it was preparing to establish a subsidiary in Malta to expand operations to the Mediterranean Sea. More on how Recycllux came to be and its plans for the near future in this interview with Sorina Uleia, founder & Chief Executive Officer of Recycllux (pictured left).
How did the idea of Recycllux come about and how did it fit your previous experience?
When I left the corporate world – after nearly 15 years in IT, working with companies like IBM, Oracle, and Indra Sistemas – I started focusing on innovation. Through my work with the European Commission and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, I was exposed to many groundbreaking ideas. But the real spark for Recycllux came from a very personal moment. I was at the seaside with my children, swimming, when we came across an area full of plastic floating in the water. It was upsetting and determined me to act. Later, I discussed it with my initial co-founders, Alexandra [e.n. Cernian] and Bogdan [e.n. Iuga], and we said to ourselves: ‘We’re smart people. We know technology. Let’s find a solution to solve this issue in a scalable way.’ NGOs were doing their best with local cleanups, but the existing solutions were fragmented and small-scale. We wanted to design something that could work anywhere – a model that doesn’t just fix one beach while the problem persists elsewhere. That’s how the idea for Recycllux took shape, but turning it into reality was far from easy.
How was the journey from idea to implementation?
We registered the company in February 2021, and it’s been quite a journey since then. Initially, securing funding was very challenging. In the meantime, I exited a previous startup where I was a minority shareholder. We sold it to a major company, and that allowed me to invest my earnings into Recycllux. It was a personal leap of faith, but it made all the difference. It was difficult to convince people to invest in us in the beginning because we carried risk on all fronts: we were an early-stage startup, based in Romania, and building something entirely new. Practically, we are building a whole new value chain around the non-recyclable or partially recyclable plastic from the sea. There are a lot of players involved: the fishermen who collect the waste, the NGOs that take the plastic, sort it, and bring it to the recyclers and the repurposing partners. It’s an entire ecosystem that we coordinate through our technology – but before we could automate it, we had to build it piece by piece. That’s why we brought in a new co-founder, Marilou Suc, who has spent her entire career in the blue economy. She’s the founder of Blue Connection and of NOWA – Network of Women in Aquaculture.
We have to build these ecosystems coast by coast, involving local people in every step. The added value of our model is that we don’t deploy any infrastructure ourselves. Instead, we leverage the existing local infrastructure on each coast. This approach reduces CO2 emissions and generates direct benefits for the communities, as the people involved are paid for their work. It’s what makes our model scalable and sustainable at the same time. Of course, this also comes with a challenge: before we can start an intervention in a new region, we first need to build the entire local ecosystem around it.
We are managing this step by step, and that’s why we are now expanding towards the Mediterranean. We evaluated several options for establishing a subsidiary and ultimately chose Malta, not only because it’s strategically located at the heart of the Mediterranean, but also because it offers a very supportive environment for startups. We have already established alliances with NGOs and partners, and we hope to deploy our first interventions there next year.
How is the platform monetized? Who are your clients?
Our customers are companies that use plastic in their products or packaging and need to offset their plastic footprint. Many of them have Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations to meet, while others simply want to take concrete sustainability actions. What we provide them with are clear, measurable KPIs. They fund specific interventions – for example, the collection of one tonne of plastic – and in return, we deliver a transparent report detailing how much of that waste was recycled, how much was repurposed, and how many tonnes of CO₂ emissions were avoided in the process. Every step is traced and verifiable, giving our customers the data they need for sustainability reporting and impact communication.
It’s quite a big market. In Europe alone, there are approximately 85,000 companies required to report on their plastic footprint. Initially, our model was based on a price per tonne of plastic collected, but we soon realized that a more flexible approach would make it easier for companies to participate. We’ve now introduced a subscription model, allowing companies to contribute according to their size and offsetting needs. Their contributions are aggregated into a common pool that funds cleanup interventions, and each company receives a proportional share of the environmental indicators: from recycled volumes to CO₂ savings. This way, the system becomes accessible to everyone, regardless of budget or scale.
What markets are you looking at? Did you set a number of clients you want to reach in the next year?
We currently focused on the European market, where we are developing a pipeline of potential customers. Our development lead, Alex [e.n. Erdfarb] is actively engaging with companies and building those relationships. For now, we’re taking a measured approach, we’re not pushing for rapid sales growth. We start small, this year, with revenues coming mainly from the two pilot projects already contracted. But our ambitions are much larger. Within five years, we aim to reach 5,000 cleanup interventions and generate around EUR 50 million in revenues.
What is the logistics of carrying out interventions in so many sites?
For us, there isn’t much physical logistics involved. That’s actually one of the strengths of our model. We coordinate with local partner NGOs, and they manage the operations on the ground. For example, on the Romanian coast, we work with Mare Nostrum, who organize and oversee each intervention. They coordinate with the fishermen, handle the collection and sorting of the plastic, and ensure that the materials reach the recyclers or repurposing partners.
The priority is, first of all, to secure partnerships with key local NGOs that can serve as anchors for the ecosystem. We’re replicating this model in other regions as well, for example, in Malta, we’re already in discussions with two NGOs. We also signed an agreement with an NGO in Tunisia.
Are you looking at other regions besides Europe?
We’re taking things step by step. Our immediate focus is on Europe, but we’re already looking toward North Africa, given its proximity to Malta and the shared challenges across the Mediterranean. For now, we’re not targeting the U.S. market, as the current policy climate there is less favorable for environmental initiatives.
What are the plans in terms of funding?
So far, we’ve raised around EUR 400,000 to develop our technology and validate our model. Our next step is to open a seed funding round following the success of the pilot, aiming to attract investors who share our vision and can help us scale our impact. We’re already in promising discussions with three investors and plan to officially launch the round by the end of the year.
What was more difficult so far: being from Romania or being a woman in the startup world?
Being from Romania, unfortunately, for me. And not because we lack a good startup ecosystem; in fact, it has grown tremendously in recent years. The challenge was that we don’t yet have dedicated climate or impact venture capital funds. Most of the funding available locally is tech-oriented, but not niche-based, and we had to look beyond Romania and connect with climate and impact investors.
(Photo courtesy of Recycllux)
simona@romania-insider.com
*This interview was conducted at Impact Bucharest.
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