LyondellBasell and Germany-based 23 Oaks Investments have announced the creation of a new joint venture company called Source One Plastics. The joint venture will build and operate an energy efficient, advanced plastic waste sorting and recycling facility in Germany, the companies said. Using renewable energy from wind and biomass, the new unit will have the capacity to process the plastic packaging waste generated by approximately 1.3 million German citizens per year - waste that today is largely incinerated.
The output of the Source One facility will provide a material part of the feedstock for an advanced recycling plant that LyondellBasell plans to build at its Wesseling, Germany, site. This new commercial-scale recycling plant will be based on LyondellBasell's proprietary MoReTec technology and the first to demonstrate its capability for further scalability. LyondellBasell already operates a semi-industrial scale MoReTec plant at its Ferrara, Italy, site. Once in operation, this facility will enable the recycling of most types of plastic materials such as multi-layered food packaging items or mixed plastic containers.
"To truly achieve a circular economy, we have to find creative solutions to meet society's needs,” said Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell Executive Vice President, Circular and Low Carbon Solutions, a new business unit formed just a few weeks ago.
“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."
23 Oaks Investments, headquartered in Leiferde/Lower Saxony, Germany, is a strategic solutions provider in the upcycling of post-consumer recycled plastic waste with extensive experience in the plastics industry. The Source One Plastics joint venture will provide a broad range of services including waste procurement, sorting, and pre-treatment to deliver feedstock suitable for producing high-quality PCR material for a range of applications.
"With our global experience at all levels of the circular economy and our extensive knowledge in all areas of the plastic recycling value chain combined with our strong hands-on approach, we feel we have right mix of competencies to make Source One Plastics a success," noted Kai Hoyer, Managing Partner of 23 Oaks Investment.
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.
The final investment decision on the new commercial-scale recycling project is scheduled for the coming months.