Circular11 has raised €2.7 million to scale up how it turns hard-to-recycle plastic into building materials. The Dorset-based company plans to process around 10,000 tonnes of low-quality plastic over the next two years. For founders tracking ClimateTech and construction, this is a clear sign that waste-based materials are moving from pilots into real production.
Investors:
The €2.7 million round was led by Vectr7 Investment Partners, a climate impact investor. The FSE Group acted as co-lead, putting in £630,000 (€728.1k) from the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund.
The round also brought in the FSE Investor Network, Oxford Innovation Network, and several private investors, alongside an InnovateUK grant. Back in 2023, Circular11 raised £500,000 (€578k) to build its first full-scale recycling facility in Dorset, England.
From Waste to Decking:
Circular11 takes plastics that most recyclers reject, like contaminated film and mixed household waste. It processes PP, HDPE, LDPE, and PS, shreds the material into granules, then runs it through an extruder. The output is composite lumber built for the outdoors.
That lumber becomes fencing, decking, planters, and outdoor furniture. The company sells to councils, businesses, garden centres, and households. CEO Benjamin Gibbons frames every incinerated tonne of plastic as a missed chance to give the construction sector affordable, long-lasting, low-carbon materials.
The Machine Learning Edge:
Low-quality plastic varies a lot from batch to batch. That variation is exactly why normal manufacturing lines can’t use it. Circular11 built machine learning into its process to read each waste stream and set the right formulation automatically.
This is the part that lets plastic waste recycling work at scale. The system also tracks carbon as it goes, so buyers get a clear footprint for every product. You can see how recycled plastic building materials fit the wider shift in our coverage of ClimateTech startups.
Roots in Nepal:
Founder Benjamin Gibbons studied Anthropology at Oxford, then worked on waste projects in Nepal. He saw that plastic only got collected when it had real value. Without that value, it ended up dumped or burned.
He started Circular11 with co-founder Connor Winter to close that gap. The company, founded in 2021, now builds a plastic market that recyclers usually can’t touch. That origin still shapes its goal, which is to make recycling technology that works anywhere in the world.
Scaling Up Production:
The new funding goes straight into manufacturing. Circular11 wants to bring its production technology to market and lift the output of waste-based materials. The 10,000-tonne target over two years sets a concrete pace for that growth.
The British Business Bank has backed the company before, supporting it through the Start Up Loans programme in 2024. The South West Investment Fund returned for this round with £630,000 inside the £2.4 million total, a sign of steady investor confidence.
Why Now:
Timber supply has tightened, and construction needs durable alternatives. Dominic Wilson, founder and Managing Partner at Vectr7, points to supply constraints in timber markets as the reason both construction and manufacturing need sustainable options. He said Circular11 is “addressing that critical need head on.”
Composite timber made from recycled plastic fills that gap. It handles weather, skips the rot, and the company says its boards can be recycled several more times at the end of their life. For the construction sector, this points to low-carbon building materials with low ongoing maintenance.
The Bigger Picture:
Circular11 now has the capital to move from one Dorset facility toward wider production. With €2.7 million in fresh funding and a target of 10,000 tonnes of recycled plastic, the company links two big needs, which are cleaning up plastic waste and supplying durable construction materials. For founders and operators in climate tech, it shows how recycled plastic building materials can grow into a real market.
