I realized that waiting for someone else to act was no longer an option - Sorina Uleia, Co-founder & CEO Recycllux

Sorina Uleia is the Co-founder and CEO of Recycllux, a Romanian startup that makes use of the collected satellite Earth Observation data and applies machine-learning algorithms to identify the marine plastic litter problem spots, where actions need to be taken. 

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The story of Recycllux began at the intersection of personal passion and professional purpose, Sorina says. 

“As someone deeply connected to the sea, I was heartbroken to witness the rising tide of plastic pollution every time I returned to the coast. I realized that waiting for someone else to act was no longer an option. With over 20 years of experience in tech innovation and sustainability, I saw a clear gap in how marine plastic pollution was being addressed: scattered efforts, no real-time data, and little transparency. I knew we could do better.

So I teamed up with Alexandra Cernian, an AI professor whose machine learning research became the foundation for our detection algorithm, and Bogdan Iuga, a seasoned solutions architect, to build Recycllux. Our mission is to turn marine plastic pollution from a burden to an opportunity, empowering companies to fund verified cleanups and showcase climate-smart, regulation-aligned impact.”

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The startup was founded in 2021, after the team ideated the AI prototype during the Parsec Accelerator. A successful journey of validation and building followed. After they finalized their MVP, the results they got were published on the European Commission’s Horizon Results Platform in 2023. Later on, in 2024, Recycllux started securing valuable partnerships along the Romanian Black Sea coast to deploy interventions, won the Black Sea Common Maritime Agenda’s Project Award for Healthy Marine Ecosystems, and received the BRIDGE Black Sea High-Tech Summit Investors’ Award as the most bankable project.

“In 2025, our impact was further recognized through the official inclusion of our action in the EU Mission Oceans Charter. With signed pilot customers in Romania and financing from Social Tides and Google, we are finalizing the commercial version of our platform to launch operational pilots in September 2025.

In April 2025, Recycllux was selected among the Change100 top sustainability startups worldwide - the only company from Romania to receive this recognition.”

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Sorina believes that satellite data has the capacity to completely transform the way marine pollution is tackled. Traditional monitoring, she says, is costly and slow because it relies on coastal patrols, manual reporting, or limited sonar-based methods.

“In contrast, satellite-based Earth Observation gives us a scalable and accurate view of plastic accumulation in the seas, allowing for targeted, efficient cleanups. This approach drastically reduces wasted effort, cuts operational costs, and helps prioritize interventions where they’ll have the greatest impact.”

Recycllux is also making use of blockchain, which Sorina calls “the backbone of Recycllux's traceability and accountability system”.

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Basically, once their AI identifies a marine plastic accumulation at sea, an intervention is created on their platform. This intervention is funded through companies’ subscriptions. Local fishing vessels (the collectors) submit an offer to tackle the clean up and once a selection is made, a smart contract is issued.

“From that point on, every step is recorded on-chain (from collection at sea to sorting, recycling, or repurposing). This creates a tamper-proof, verifiable record of the cleanup and allows for payments to be done once each actor completes their role. It removes ambiguity and builds trust across all parties involved. For local fishing communities, for example, this means fair compensation and a new income stream during off-seasons.”

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One critical problem of the plastic value chain is that it is “linear, opaque, and unaccountable - producing, consuming, and discarding plastic with little regard for where it ends up” Sorina adds.

“With over 12 million tons of plastic entering our oceans annually, and that figure projected to triple to 36 million tons by 2040, the need for systemic responsibility is urgent. We believe that those who profit from plastic must also take part in managing its afterlife. 

Responsibility must be shared across the entire value chain, from manufacturers and brand owners to retailers. Thus, our solution helps shift the narrative. We give companies the tools to fund verified cleanups, track their environmental impact, and embed these actions into their sustainability and compliance reporting. “

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Recycllux is basically a digital marketplace that matches companies’ plastic pollution offset needs with detected marine plastic accumulations and the local capacity to clean and process that waste (fishing vessels, NGOs, recyclers, and repurposing partners). Their long term plan? To collect +5,000 tons of marine plastic by 2030, among others.

“As a CapEx-light, platform-driven model, Recycllux scales efficiently by onboarding local partners in each region, enabling decentralized, traceable interventions and generating recurring revenue through multi-year contracts tied to corporate compliance and sustainability reporting.

We believe that the communities most affected by marine plastic pollution should also benefit from solving it. By connecting companies that fund cleanups with the communities that carry them out, we foster shared responsibility, fair compensation, and measurable environmental and social impact. 

Fishing fleets, NGOs, and recycling or repurposing partners are paid to collect, sort, and transform marine plastic waste, creating sustainable income streams. By 2030, we aim to collect 5,000 tons of marine plastic, significantly reducing pollution in Europe’s seas, preventing more than 3 million tons of CO₂ emissions, and generating over 5,000 direct jobs in local economies.”

In parallel, they are launching a creative initiative in partnership with arts highschool to transform non-recyclable plastics into art. This is one of their many ways of promoting environmental awareness. 

“By 2030, we plan to engage 1,000 students, cultivating a new generation of climate-conscious changemakers.

Our ultimate goal is to mainstream marine plastic offsetting, turn waste into value, and demonstrate that addressing marine pollution can unlock shared prosperity and global environmental renewal.”

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Finally, given the important - and challenging issue that they are addressing at Recycllux, we wanted to learn what gives Sorina hope and strength to continue:

“What gives me hope is seeing more and more people ready to step up and take responsibility for our planet. Beyond the tightening regulatory demands across the EU, companies are beginning to move past greenwashing and are actively seeking real, measurable impact. I see policymakers starting to listen, communities mobilizing, and a new generation that refuses to accept business-as-usual. This gives me confidence that systemic change is underway.”

Thank you, Sorina Uleia!