Pictured left to right: Braven Environmental President & CEO Nicholas Canosa and SAU President Christine Johnson McPhail.

RALEIGH, NC— Braven Environmental (“Braven”), a pioneering technology provider in the advanced plastics recycling sector, signed a memorandum of understanding with Saint Augustine’s University. The agreement offers the opportunity for both faculty and students to conduct research alongside Braven’s scientists and allow for student internships at the Braven facility in Zebulon.

Braven’s proprietary pyrolysis process has undergone more than ten years of testing and development and efficiently breaks down mixed, difficult-to-recycle waste plastics into Braven PyChemTM. Through its support of a circular plastics economy, Braven Environmental is leading the development of an economical approach to solving the global waste plastics crisis.

According to a 2020 study by Pew Research, Breaking the Plastic Wave, the circular economy has the potential to reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80%, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%, generate savings of $200 billion per year, and create 700,000 additional jobs by 2040.

“We are pleased to offer these cutting-edge scientific opportunities to our students,” said Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail President of Saint Augustine’s University. “We believe the country needs the type of research that Braven is conducting to remain a leader in the recycling sector and reduce our collective carbon footprint. Saint Augustine’s University faculty and students are well positioned to support Braven and make a significant impact in the technology recycling sector.”

“This novel collaboration between Saint Augustine’s University and Braven Environmental unifies several essential benefits for society, environmental sustainability, environmental responsibility, entrepreneurship, and business management, through education and practice. The concentrations in sustainable biology and sustainable economy for undergraduates and the online certificate create opportunities for anyone to be better equipped to operate in these spaces,” said Dr. Josiah Sampson the University’s Vice President of Academic Affairs.

According to Dr. Mark Melton Dean of the School of Science, Mathematics and Public Health, “The Braven Environmental-Saint Augustine’s University relationship will provide a platform for student engagement at all levels of company operations, while developing a business model for a sustainable partnership.”

“Braven Environmental is thrilled to collaborate with St. Augustine’s University,” said Nicholas Canosa, President and CEO of Braven Environmental. “This partnership is about engaging future generations in the efforts to address the global waste plastics crisis in the heart of the communities where we operate our facilities. We look forward to welcoming students studying sustainability and the development of circular economies at our Zebulon, North Carolina facility.”

About Saint Augustine’s University

Founded in 1867 by the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, the mission of Saint Augustine’s University is to sustain a learning community in which students can prepare academically, socially and spiritually for leadership in a complex, diverse and rapidly changing world.

About Braven Environmental

Braven Environmental, LLC (“Braven” or the “Company”) is a leading technology provider in the advanced recycling sector. Deploying patented pyrolysis-based technology, Braven converts mixed waste plastics into Braven PyChemTM, a feedstock/input for the production of new plastics, and as a replacement to traditional oil products. Braven believes it has one of the leading solutions addressing the global and growing issue of post-consumer and post-industrial waste plastics, while reducing the carbon footprint associated with traditional plastic waste management and plastic production. With its first facility already in operation in North Carolina, Braven plans to develop a network of facilities across the U.S. and abroad to offer a true solution to waste plastics while cementing its place in the circular economy related to plastics production. Headquartered in Yonkers, New York, Braven was founded in 2010.