ExxonMobil, Cyclyx, Sealed Air, Ahold Delhaize USA demo advanced recycling for plastic scrap

In 2022, Spring, Texas-Based ExxonMobil Corp., Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Cyclyx International, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Sealed Air and Quincy, Massachusetts-based Ahold Delhaize USA announced their intention to launch a circular food packaging proof of concept leveraging advanced recycling.

The partners say during a successful demonstration, plastic scrap was collected from grocery stores, diverting it from landfills. Using ExxonMobil’s Exxtend technology for advanced recycling, plastic scrap is broken down into its molecular building blocks and attributed through a mass balance approach to new plastic for food-grade packaging. The firms say their collaboration demonstrated that creating a circular economy is achievable with value chain collaboration. Following a viable test, the process is now being evaluated for scale.

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According to ExxonMobil, creating a circular economy for food-contact plastic packaging in applications where there are strict safety and performance requirements is a difficult challenge facing the industry.

“This project helps demonstrate how Exxtend technology can widen the range of plastic materials that can be recycled while delivering certified-circular polymers with the critical performance attributes of virgin plastic,” says Dan Moore, vice president of polyethylene at ExxonMobil. “Advanced recycling is making the impossible possible and is an important enabler to support a circular economy.”

Ahold Delhaize USA brand Food Lion supported the initial pilot, collecting plastic scrap for recycling at select store locations. Food Lion boasts more than 1,100 stores across 10 states and is one of five brands comprising the Ahold Delhaize USA network—the largest grocery retail group on the East Coast and the fourth largest in the country.

“Across Ahold Delhaize USA companies, we have ambitious goals around recyclable and reusable packaging,” says Adam Springer, manager of product sustainability at Ahold Delhaize USA. “Based on the initial pilot, we’re optimistic about being able to leverage this process at additional scale and look forward to exploring it further as part of this collaboration.”

Cyclyx, a joint venture between Agilyx Corp. and ExxonMobil, was responsible for sorting and preprocessing the scrap packaging materials collected from Food Lion stores before delivering them to ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas, facility. “The interface between the Food Lion stores and the Baytown facility was critical and required an innovative approach to feedstock management,” Cyclyx CEO Joe Vaillancourt says. “Part of our process is to identify the chemical composition of the waste plastics we receive. This allows us to create custom blends of postuse plastic feedstock that are tailored to the specifications required for advanced recycling.”

At the Baytown facility, ExxonMobil says its Exxtend technology for advanced recycling is used to recycle the valuable end-of-life plastics and attribute them via mass balance accounting to certified-circular polymers. Moore says, “The technology provides a reliable source to attribute to high-performance, certified-circular polymers. The resulting polymers, such as Exceed S, Exceed XP, Exceed and Enable performance polyethylene (PE) have the characteristics of virgin resins, which is critical for food-grade packaging.”

Packaging developer Sealed Air then converts the certified-circular PE resins into food-grade flexible film that is used, in the case of the partners’ proof of concept, to package select Nature’s Promise fresh poultry. The packaging then returns to stores used on products purchased by customers, which the firms say demonstrates an example of the circular economy.

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“By collaborating with suppliers and customers, we were able to identify, design and commercialize an innovative flexible packaging solution which supports circularity,” Sealed Air Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs Ron Cotterman says.

ExxonMobil adds that by leveraging its existing manufacturing assets, Exxtend technology can be quickly scaled to process a wide range of plastic scrap. To help meet the growing market demand for certified-circular products, the company says it plans to increase its annual advanced recycling capacity to 500,000 metric tons—approximately 1 billion pounds—by the end of 2026 across multiple sites globally.