Plastic Energy and TotalEnergies announce plans to build plastic recycling facility in Spain

Plastic Energy, a chemical recycler based in London, and TotalEnergies, an energy company based in Paris, have announced the construction of an advanced recycling plant in Sevilla, Spain. 

The plant will transform end-of-life plastic scrap into a recycled feedstock called Tacoil using Plastic Energy’s recycling technology. TotalEnergies will convert this raw material into virgin-quality polymers used for food-grade packaging. 

“This new large-scale recycling plant will be an impactful addition to our existing portfolio of operational plants in Spain and will allow for an increase in the number of end-of-life plastics that we can recycle in Europe,” says Carlos Monreal, founder and CEO of Plastic Energy.

According to a joint news release, the plant will process and convert 33,000 tons of postconsumer end-of-life plastic scrap annually. The plant is expected to become operational in early 2025, with Tacoil to manufacture high-quality polymers in TotalEnergies’ European-based production units.

“This new project with Plastic Energy in Spain follows two collaboration projects already announced in France and the U.S.,” says Valérie Goff, senior vice president of polymers at TotalEnergies. “Those projects contribute to addressing the challenge of the circular economy and to our ambition of producing 30 percent recycled and renewable polymers by 2030.”

In 2020, TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy announced a joint venture to build a plastic scrap conversion facility with a capacity of 15,000 metric tons annually at the TotalEnergies Grandpuits zero-crude platform in France. The project is expected to be operational in 2023.

Additionally, Plastic Energy, Freepoint Eco-Systems and TotalEnergies announced a strategic partnership in October 2021 for a similar recycling plant in Texas. This plant, which is a joint venture between Plastic Energy and Freepoint Eco-systems, will have the capacity to recycle 33,000 metric tons of plastic scrap annually and is expected to be operational by mid-2024. Under the agreement, Tacoil will be converted by TotalEnergies in its Texas-based production units.