UK chemical recycling specialist, Plastic Energy Ltd is planning to build five recycling plants in West Java, Indonesia, the company announced 3 April.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the governor of West Java to build the units in a bid to help Indonesia meet its target of reducing marine plastic debris by 70% by 2025.
Headquartered in London with two production plants in Almeria and Seville, Spain, Plastic Energy has developed a patented and proven solution which converts end-of-life plastics into a hydrocarbon oil product called Tacoil.
Tacoil is suitable for use as feedstock to produce either virgin-like recycled plastics (closed-loop Plastic2Plastic) or alternative low-carbon fuel (open-loop Plastic2Oil).
With waste management industry in Indonesia in its early stages of development, Plastic Energy is currently exploring partnerships with public and private organisations to address infrastructure challenges in the region.
West Java, according to governor Ridwan Kamil, is the biggest province in Indonesia with a population of 50 million people and 27 cities.
The province has laid out a series of strategies to improve sustainability and tackle its growing plastics waste problem.
“We want to be the first region in Indonesia to have the facilities to transform plastic waste into energy and into fuel, through this partnership with Plastic Energy,” Kamil added.
Indonesia has the world’s second highest plastic leakage into the sea after China.
Another key Indonesian province, East Java, is currently pursuing the Project Stop Ocean Plastic (STOP) to address the issue of marine litter.
The project, initiated by Austrian polyolefin producer Borealis and waste management specialist SYSTEMIQ, involves working closely with local governments and building the right infrastructure to stop plastics leakage to the sea.
The city of Muncar, a major fishing port in East Java, has been chosen for the first city-partnership project.