Lamor buys remaining shares in plastic scrap-to-oil facility

Lamor Corp., a Finnish environmental services firm, now owns 100 percent of its Lamor Recycling Oy plastics-to-oil chemical recycling business as it bought a 30 percent stake formerly held by Resiclo Oy, also based in Finland.

Lamor says the transaction demonstrates its strong commitment to this significant project, which aims to provide a solution for the increased need for circular oil in the plastics industry, and that initiating and growing the chemical recycling business unit has been a key part of its strategy for 2025 through 2027.

The first production line of a concept plant being built in Porvoo, Finland, is expected to start in the third quarter of this year. Lamor says the plastic scrap-to-oil line will be able to recycle about 10,000 tons of plastic each year. In the long term, Lamor aims to increase Lamor Recycling Oy’s processing capacity to 100,000 tons annually with additional production lines in Porvoo and two additional plants.

“Recycling plastic is economically sensible and ecologically necessary,” Lamor Corp. CEO Johan Grön says. “Certified circular oil is an extremely versatile, high-quality raw material that is well-suited for the production of functional plastic products, including demanding food packaging.

“Lamor is one of the few companies in the world that utilizes thermochemical technology on such a large scale in recycling. In this business, we can leverage our long experience with hydrocarbons and solving environmental problems related to them as well as our strong position among industrial players.”

The company says since not all plastics can be recycled mechanically, achieving European recycling and emissions reduction targets requires a "significant expansion" of chemical recycling.

“We have made a significant investment in the completion of the first production line in Kilpilahti because we believe this is a significant opportunity to create continuous and profitable business,” Grön says. “The facility’s first production line alone can recycle the amount of plastic [scrap] equal to the amount produced by hundreds of thousands of people; it is [material] that would otherwise not be recyclable.

“Lamor has built a unique certified value chain from suppliers of recyclable plastic to the further processing of circular oil and its end use in the plastics industry. We believe that as the sole owner, Lamor is better positioned to lead the final phase of the project to optimize processes with all stakeholders. It also ensures that we can fully benefit from it.”

Lamor says the plant being built in Porvoo is Finland's first industrial-scale plant for the production of circular oil from recycled plastic, noting it is one of just a few similar projects worldwide.