Being built by TotalEnergies (60%) and Plastic Energy (40%), the recycling facility will be able to process 15,000 tons of waste annually and is expected to be operational in 2024

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The advanced recycling plant is scheduled to be operational in 2024. (Credit: TotalEnergies)

French integrated energy and petroleum firm TotalEnergies and plastic recycling firm Paprec have inked a long-term commercial agreement to create a French value chain for the advanced recycling of plastic film wastes.

Being built by TotalEnergies (60%) and Plastic Energy (40%), the recycling facility will be able to process 15,000 tons of waste annually.

Expected to be operational in 2024, the plant will be based on the pyrolysis technology developed by Plastic Energy.

The deal aims to secure the feedstock supply for the plant from TotalEnergies’ future advanced plastic recycling plant in Grandpuits.

Under the terms of the agreement, French household packaging compliance firm Citeo will supply a stream of flexible plastic waste sorted from post-consumer packaging.

The stream will be transferred to the Paprec Plastiques 80 plant in Amiens (France), where a sorting and preparation line will be constructed.

This waste from France will be used by TotalEnergies in its advanced recycling facility at the Grandpuits zero-crude platform to make virgin food-grade quality recycled plastics.

TotalEnergies Renewable Fuels & Chemicals senior vice president Valérie Goff said: “This long-term agreement is a major milestone for our advanced recycling plant at Grandpuits, as it guarantees a supply of waste of French-origin.

“It is a tangible example of TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing a circular economy for plastics and fully contributes to our ambition of producing 30% circular polymers by 2030.”

In September 2020, the petroleum company unveiled its plans to invest more than €500m to convert its Grandpuits refinery into a zero-crude platform.

The project is in line with its strategy to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Since then, TotalEnergies has signed many partnerships to see the construction of facilities for (aviation) biofuels and bioplastics production, as well as plastic waste recycling.

Last month, the firm partnered with US-based chemical firm Ecolab to unveil new plastic packaging material called TotalEnergies RE:use rPE6314.