Prism pushing sustainable future with $40 million in fundraising

KIRKLAND, Wash.—Bob Abramowitz's former company, Advanced H2O, was the leading supplier of Costco's Kirkland Signature-brand bottled water. Under Abramowitz's guidance, the Washington-based bottled water company created 1.2 billion plastic bottles every single day.

Now Abramowitz is CEO of Prism Worldwide L.L.C., a sustainability-focused compounder and manufacturer whose products are made from recycled tires. With that, Abramowitz's focus has shifted to making the world a better place for his grandchildren.

"I'm now at an age where I have four grandchildren, six (years old) and younger," Abramowitz said. "And think about what I did. I created the second largest private label bottled water company in the United States. … My daughter would get on me about, you know, 'We're polluting the world.' "

"I took the stance that I'm not anti-plastic. I'm pro-recycling."

That stance has helped Prism focus its company-wide vision since its founding in 2019, Abramowitz said. And that vision is far from complete.

Having raised $40 million in Series A and A1 fundraising with help from former Costco CEO Jim Sinegal and Robert "Spike" Anderson, former CEO of Anderson Daymon Worldwide, the company is pushing its sustainable future closer and closer to the present through commercialization of its thermoplastic elastomer products.

"We're already fielding inquiries from a host of companies seeking ways to make their consumer and industrial products more sustainable," Abramowitz said. "Even more compelling is that once the products manufactured from our polymer intermediates reach their end-of-life usefulness, they can be recycled again, creating a truly circular, long life.

"We need to, as an industry, come up with solutions," he said. "And I feel like (Prism is) a little bit of a piece of this, because we have very unique technology."

When it comes to doing what it can to secure a sustainable future, Prism is leaving no stone unturned.

With a plant in Reno, Nev., up and running, Abramowitz set out to acquire another plant with the $40 million from fundraising. Preferably on the eastern side of the U.S., the plant had to be able to work with both plastic and rubber.

Enter Sodus, N.Y.-based CRC Polymer Systems.

"I spent a little over $11 million on the acquisition (of CRC), and we closed down Reno and moved everything into one plant," Abramowitz said. "So, I'm making Prism technology, and have the ability to compound it at the same facility. I've taken all the freight aspect of it, the R&D aspect, and moved it all into one office."

In acquiring CRC in 2022, Abramowitz and Prism were able to consolidate their operations, putting both plastic and rubber in one place. Equipped with what Abramowitz called a "world class" research and development lab, the company can produce, compound and test new products under one roof in upstate New York.

"We can do both rubber and plastic technology in there and test for the specifications that the customers are using," he said. "All the way up to, we can test with tire companies, the metrics they use for the rubber material that goes into tires. We have a full lab to do that."

Prism's products are already on the market throughout the U.S. Along with recycled plastic storage totes, garbage cans and other products, the company sells an auto floor mat made from 50 percent recycled tire rubber that tests just as well as a virgin TPE mat, according to Abramowitz. The mats are already available for consumer purchase at Walmart, with more products likely coming down the pipeline.

Outside of the realm of consumers, Prism wants to help the manufacturers and suppliers themselves. One solution, Abramowitz said, is to give companies an offer that they could never refuse.

Abramowitz said that while companies do have a responsibility to sustainability, they have just as big a responsibility to profitability. When forced to choose between one or the other, the corporations are going to choose their obligation to shareholders much more often.

So, Abramowitz and Prism have taken on a "help me help you" mindset when it comes to the big corporations, he said. By providing rubber and plastic giants with fully circular products that are still available at the same price, Prism is helping the industry secure a sustainable future without that industry ever missing a beat.

"The sustainability approach by most companies has been windmills, (or) 'I put solar panels on my roof, I put a green plant field on my roof,'" Abramowitz said. "It's those type of approaches, and that's like putting a pin into an elephant. It's not that I've really taken and changed my material approach."

"All these industries are aircraft carriers: (they take) a long time to turn."

Even if it has taken a while, the turn has started, Abramowitz said. Prism is helping that aircraft carrier complete its turn into sustainability around the world, with a focus on Europe and the U.S. As the EU's regulations come into play for 2026 and beyond, the company is working to make sure it plays its part to perfection.

"When we talk to European companies, (there's a) whole different attitude than when we talk to American companies, but (the Americans) are getting it," he said. "From where I started five years ago, on a scale from one to five, it was a one. It's a strong three right now. In Europe, it's a strong four and a half."

A second Donald Trump presidency is likely to bring deregulation to American environmental protection standards, but Abramowitz is hopeful that the big companies stick to their commitment to sustainability. Despite their regional and political differences, Europe and the U.S. are both moving toward the hopeful future that he envisions for his grandchildren.

"No matter what the political climate is, it's moving in the direction that sustainability is needed," Abramowitz said. "We can't keep polluting our world with these materials that have a value to them after."