LyondellBasell, EEW exploring plastic recycling partnership

Rotterdam, Netherlands-based advanced recycler LyondellBasell and Helmstedt, Germany-based thermal waste treatment company EEW Energy from Waste, recently signed a letter of intent which includes exploring a potential long-term strategic partnership to extract and recycle plastics out of incineration waste streams.

The proposed collaboration would potentially include construction of scrap presorting facilities at or near EEW incineration plants to remove plastics from waste streams bound for incineration, and investment in advanced sorting facilities to further sort and refine the plastic that has been removed.

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LyondellBasell says this partnership supports its new strategy to invest in advance sorting infrastructure to produce plastic scrap-based feedstocks, grow its circular and low-carbon solutions business and deliver on its value creation ambitions.

“Collaborations across the value chain are part of our strategy and are increasingly necessary to free up plastic waste from sources that today do not end up in recycling,” LyondellBasell Executive Vice President of Circular and Low Carbon Solutions Yvonne van der Laan says. “The materials from these sorting facilities would not only support our existing mechanical recycling facilities in the Netherlands and a potential advanced recycling unit in Germany, but also allows us to optimize waste streams and drive additional value.”

The companies say the collaboration would close the loop on plastics that are currently sent for incineration by sorting them out for use as feedstock in mechanical and advanced recycling processes. By removing these materials from the incineration waste stream, the fossil CO₂ emissions associated with combusting the materials are also avoided.

“With this cooperation, we are creating a convincing solution for plastic waste for which recycling is still ruled out today,” EEW Chief Executive Officer Bernard M. Kemper says. “EEW will first build a sorting facility and sort out plastics to recover them for the raw material cycle.”