The energy-efficient, advanced facility will use renewable energy from wind and biomass will produce processed waste for LyondellBasell’s new planned advanced recycling plant
Matthijs Beijk from LyondellBasell and Kai Hoyer from 23 Oaks Investment sign the agreement to form Source One Plastics. (Credit: PRNewswire/ LyondellBasell Industries)
Chemicals company LyondellBasell and 23 Oaks Investments have announced a new joint venture called Source One Plastics to construct a plastic waste sorting and recycling facility in Germany.
LyondellBasell said that the energy-efficient, advanced facility will use renewable energy from wind and biomass to process the amount of plastic packaging waste produced by 1.3 million Germans each year.
The JV will offer a wide range of services, including waste procurement, sorting, and pretreatment to produce feedstock appropriate for generating high-quality PCR material for a variety of applications.
The firm also has plans to build an advanced recycling plant at its site in Wesseling, Germany.
The new Source One Plastics facility will generate processed waste that will provide a material part of the feedstock for LyondellBasell’s upcoming recycling plant.
LyondellBasell claimed that the plant will be the first commercial-scale, single-train advanced recycling facility using its MoReTec technology, and it is intended to show its scalability.
The chemical firm already runs a MoReTec unit that is semi-industrial in scale at its site in Ferrara, Italy.
LyondellBasell Circular and Low Carbon Solutions executive vice president Yvonne van der Laan said: “We are committed to supporting our customers to meet their demand for renewable and circular solutions.
“To truly achieve a circular economy, we have to find creative solutions to meet society’s needs.
“We are taking an important first step into the upstream side of the business to secure access to plastic waste that we will convert into new plastic materials at our advanced recycling plants.
“This will enable us to meet our circularity ambition and produce two million tonnes of polymers from recycled or renewable resources annually by 2030.”
The new facility from LyondellBasell is designed to turn post-consumer plastic waste that is difficult to recover into feedstock for new plastic products.
Once it is running, it will recycle plastic products, including mixed plastic containers or multi-layered food packaging. The final investment decision on this project will be concluded in the coming months, the company noted.
Both initiatives help LyondellBasell achieve its sustainability goal of eliminating environmental plastic waste.