LyondellBasell tie-ups: 23 Oaks jv for sorting/recycling facility in Germany; Genox jv to set up recycling plant in China

Chemical firm LyondellBasell and 23 Oaks Investments, Leiferde/Lower Saxony, Germany, signed an agreement to create Source One Plastics, a joint venture that will build an advanced plastic waste sorting and recycling facility in Germany. Using renewable energy from wind and biomass, the new unit is designed to process the amount of plastic packaging waste generated by approximately 1.3 million/year German citizens. This waste is not recycled today and is mostly incinerated.

The Source One Plastics facility will produce processed waste that will provide a material part of the feedstock for an advanced recycling plant that LyondellBasell plans to build at its Wesseling, Germany, site. Using LyondellBasell's proprietary MoReTec technology, this plant will be the first commercial scale, single-train advanced recycling plant, designed to demonstrate its capability for further scalability. LyondellBasell already operates a semi-industrial scale MoReTec plant at its Ferrara, Italy, site.

LyondellBasell's new plant is designed to convert hard-to-recycle post-consumer plastic waste into feedstock for new plastic materials. Once in operation, it will enable recycling of most types of plastic materials such as multi-layered food packaging items or mixed plastic containers. The final investment decision on this project is scheduled for the coming months. Both projects contribute to LyondellBasell's sustainability ambition to end plastic waste in the environment.

23 Oaks Investments is a strategic solution provider in the upcycling of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic waste with extensive experience in the plastics industry. The Source One Plastics joint venture will provide a broad portfolio of services including waste procurement, sorting, and pre-treatment to deliver feedstock suitable for producing high-quality PCR material for a range of applications.

In addition to its advanced recycling semi-industrial scale plant, LyondellBasell holds a 50% share in Quality Circular Polymers (QCP). QCP uses a mechanical recycling process to produce premium plastic pellets from post-consumer packaging waste for use in such applications as electrical appliances, washing detergent bottles and suitcases.

Meanwhile, in related news, LyondellBasell has entered into a MoU with China’s Genox Recycling, a manufacturer for integrated service provider of solid waste treatment industry in China, to establish a joint venture to build a plastics recycling plant in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province with a planned start up in 2023. The plastic recycling plant will use mechanical recycling technology to recycle post-consumer plastic waste and produce new polymers sold under the LyondellBasell CirculenRecover product portfolio.

Genox’s product offering includes plastic washing, tyre recycling, metal recycling, EV LiBs recycling and waste refrigerator recycling system.

"Advancing a circular economy that enables plastic waste to be transformed into more sustainable solutions for our customers is important to us, and we are pleased to collaborate with Genox Recycling to make this happen," said Limin Fu, vice president of LyondellBasell China Polyolefins. "This new joint venture will help develop the local plastics recycling infrastructure in China and is an important milestone for LyondellBasell to contribute to its goal to produce and market 2 million tonnes/year of recycled and renewable-based polymers by 2030."

"Genox Recycling believes that innovation and collaboration are necessary ways to achieve carbon neutrality,” said Jingfa Jiang, chairman of Genox Recycling. “We are delighted to join hands with LyondellBasell to lead the development of plastics recycling with a complementary mix of strengths from both parties and accelerate a circular and low-carbon future together."

This partnership is one of the recent initiatives LyondellBasell is taking to expand its recycling capacity globally.

(PRA)

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