Inception

The Lasso story began with a need. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic, glass and other useful materials are sent to landfill or dumped into rivers and oceans. Co-founders Aldous Hicks and Alison Richardson thought there was a better way, and they designed the Lasso system.

In 2018 the global news media reported that there would be “more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050” and that “a whopping 91% of plastic isn't recycled”. People were desperate for a new way of doing things. It was time to take action.

Funding

In 2019 the Lasso team launched a campaign on CrowdCube, one of the world’s leading equity crowdfunding platforms. Close to 500 investors from the UK and around the world backed the project, committing a total of £548,150 to fund the creation of Lasso’s closed-loop recycling appliance prototype.

Development

Since completing the crowdfunding raise the Lasso technical team has been busy designing, manufacturing and testing the various prototype components. These include material sensors, the wash cycle, plastic granulator, glass crusher, metal shredder and collection system.

The team’s immediate focus is testing and optimising these processes independently, and results so far have been positive. Once testing and iteration is complete, the next milestone will be arranging the various components together in one unit.

Testing / Launch / Next round of funding

While the appliance prototype is in development, the Lasso sales and marketing team is preparing to pilot the product in California. Our initial product launch will be in the San Francisco Bay Area between San Mateo and San Jose.

Prior to launch, Lasso will also need to raise commercialisation funds.