Asia West has a unique focus on resource efficiency that aims to increase the economic efficiency of the industrial sector. The diagram on the right illustrates four critical points in industrial processes where economic value is typically lost or "leaked" due to sub-optimal use of materials and/or process infrastructure. Asia West Environment Fund III LP continues and expands upon the work of AW I and AW II where we’ve built a solid value-creation platform around the redeployment of scrap materials to their "best and highest use".

Asia West’s Four Investment Platforms

1. Resource Entry (raw materials, water, energy): Goal is to achieve the same performance with reduced inputs or identify inputs that produce less unwanted by-products. Specific focus is on "green chemistry". Target: 20% - 50% reduction in disposal or feedstock costs.

2. Infrastructure (existing plant, equipment, logistics, delivery systems that might otherwise be retooled or replaced): Goal is to use novel approaches to manufacturing that hold the potential to extract greater economic value from existing manufacturing and utility infrastructure by reducing both input material costs as well as production of unwanted by-products. Specific focus is on industrial biotechnology. Target: 20+% improvement in yield, throughput or operating expense.

3. Permanent Exit (waste and non-recoverable materials that would otherwise be disposed of or released into the environment): Goal is to recover and recycle these materials to their best and highest value use by either re-introducing them to the originating production cycle or redeploying them to entirely new uses. Target: 50+% reduction in disposal costs; reduction in raw material cost.

4. Temporary Exit (by-products and scrap that are already recycled): Goal is to recover and convert these low-value materials through "up-cycling" to their best and highest value use. This is achieved by disaggregating composites into streams, extracting the most valuable materials, and producing high-end materials that can either be re-introduced to the originating production cycle or redeployed to entirely new uses. Target: Produce commodity grade and branded industrial feedstocks at 25% - 50% of the cost of competing incumbent materials.