Recycle Track Systems, Inc. (RTS) announced the acquisition of Industrial Organic PBC (DBA Ambrosia), a closed-loop manufacturing company that turns food waste into circular products and commodities, furthering RTS’s commitment to sustainable solutions for waste management. This is the company’s third acquisition since launching in 2015.
As a waste and ESG consulting partner for major corporations, RTS plans to strengthen its focus on advancing sustainability initiatives in materials management at scale. With organic waste being the top contributor to landfills at nearly 80 billion pounds disposed of in the US annually, the deal with Ambrosia will allow the company to bring circular services to its client-base more broadly.
“As one of Ambrosia’s early partners, we believed in their circularity mission from the start,” said RTS CEO Greg Lettieri. “We are proud to have coordinated more than 120 tons of food waste to be put back into the economy through our partnership and now have an opportunity to change the entire landscape of food waste processing with Ambrosia’s innovative foundation.”
Ambrosia was founded in 2014 to tackle the country’s growing food waste and is most known for developing a revolutionary process to stabilize and isolate the compounds of organic material, including the water, to create a non-toxic and sustainable cleaning product. The product, Veles, was introduced into the consumer market earlier this year with notable success.
“A recent analysis of solutions to limit global warming identified food waste reduction as the most impactful due to the CO2 emissions produced when it decomposes in a landfill,” noted Amanda Weeks, former Ambrosia CEO and Cofounder who is now with RTS. “There are many important opportunities to re-think manufacturing of everyday goods by using byproducts of our existing resources. We plan to convert municipal and commercial food waste into value add-products with established markets, utilizing 100% of this complex yet promising feedstock. By having the technology, waste management, and environmentally-centered capabilities of RTS, we are thrilled to be able to innovate together on solving these major waste issues.”
In addition to Veles, the acquisition includes Ambrosia’s assets – a 12,000 square foot production facility based in Newark, NJ and several patent applications that will fold into RTS’s product and development portfolio.
As the company aims to make circular processing more accessible, RTS is also emphasizing waste diversion solutions with the recent launch of zerowaste.com. The site offers both individuals and businesses informative content, tips, zero waste products, and educational guides to break down what zero waste means and provides the steps to start reducing waste.
“Bringing the reality of our global waste challenges front and center is always top-of-mind for us,” noted Lettieri. “With the platform zerowaste.com, we can make connections with a wider audience and share the expertise we have on reuse and reduction with homes, communities, and businesses. Going zero waste does not happen overnight but having an accessible resource that provides transparency is going to be essential in addressing our single-use dependency and in helping to change the mindset about our country’s waste production.”