LYB publishes 2024 sustainability report

Global chemical company LyondellBasell (LYB), Rotterdam, Netherlands, has released its 2024 sustainability report, which claims significant progress in circular and low-carbon solutions, climate action and operational excellence.

The report highlights a number of advancements in the company’s sustainability strategy, including:

• Success with the company’s employee-driven value enhancement program (VEP), which unlocked a cumulative $800 million in recurring annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and generated an estimated annual carbon emissions reduction of 310,000 metric tons.
• A reduction in carbon emissions. In the first quarter of 2025, LYB says it safely completed the shutdown of refining operations at its Houston refinery, which it expects will reduce annual Scope 3 emissions by approximately 40 million metric tons.
• New power purchase agreements secured in 2024 that LYB says will enable it to meet its target of sourcing at least 50 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2030.
• Adherence to safety standards. The company says that out of more than 90 manufacturing sites, 70 achieved GoalZERO, 72 were injury-free and the company achieved its second lowest-ever recordable incident rate (0.127).

“At LYB, sustainability is an opportunity to reimagine the future and create long-term value,” CEO Peter Vanacker says. “Our 2024 report, ‘From Vision to Value,’ highlights how we are rethinking the status quo and accelerating progress towards a circular and low-carbon future by investing in innovative technologies, strengthening collaborations and embedding sustainability into our core strategy.”

Circular plastics movement

The 2024 report also highlights LYB’s progress toward incorporating more recycled and renewable-based polymers into its portfolio.

Last year, the company reports it increased volumes of recycled and renewable-based polymers by 65 percent to 203,000 metric tons, inching closer to its 2030 goal of producing and marketing 2 million metric tons per year and capturing incremental EBITDA of more than $1 billion through its Circular and Low Carbon Solutions (CLCS) business, which the company established in 2022 to capitalize on the growing demand for circular plastics.

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To grow its CLCS business, the company has made upstream investments to secure feedstock supply, enhanced its recycling capabilities and is developing and scaling up technologies for its Circulen portfolio of recycled and renewable-based polymers.

Circulen products include CirculenRecover, which LYB says is best suited for consumer rigid packaging, caps and closures; CirculenRevive, which is designed for food packaging and healthcare items; and CirculenRenew, which is made for food packaging and high-quality requirement films.

LYB notes it is building integrated hubs in Cologne, Germany, and Houston that will combine advanced sorting, mechanical recycling and proprietary technologies like its MoReTec and Newcycling offerings with its existing cracking and polymerization capabilities.

Last year, the company expanded its mechanical recycling footprint through joint ventures and acquisitions, including:

• The purchase of a rigid plastics mechanical recycling site in Jurupa Valley, California, and the decision to invest in a project to upgrade the facility. Manufacturing of postconsumer resin (PCR) began in 2024, with the upgrade project expected to be completed in early 2026.
• Investing in a closed-loop preparation center in Germany that will convert automotive and appliance plastics, such as bumpers and trim, into feedstock for high-performance materials. The recycled materials will be sold under LYB’s CirculenRecover brand, offering recycled content for applications in the automotive and white goods sectors.
• Opening a plastics recycling facility through the company’s joint venture with Genox Recycling in China to produce polymers via mechanical recycling.
• Growing its capabilities to produce mechanically recycled, high-performing technical compounds at its APS facility in Riese, Italy.
• Achieving RecyClass certification at its APS facility in Ferrara, Italy, ensuring transparency and traceability of postconsumer recycled content in polymers across the value chain.
• The acquisition of APK AG in Germany, bringing the Newcycling solution-based recycling technology into LYB’s portfolio, which enables the recycling of multilayer low-density polyethylene (LDPE) scrap into high-quality polymers.

Additionally, LYB has reportedly started construction of its MoReTec-1 facility in Cologne. The commercial-scale chemical recycling facility will utilize the company’s proprietary MoReTec technology and is expected to produce 50,000 metric tons of feedstock per year.

LYB also has started engineering a MoReTec-2 plant, which will be located at its Houston refinery site and is expected to have double the capacity of MoReTec-1, significantly enhancing the company’s ability to meet the growing demand for recycled polymers.

LYB includes in its report that last year, its Source One Plastics joint venture began advanced plastic scrap sorting operations at its Eicklingen, Germany, facility. The plant processes hard-to-recycle plastics to supply feedstock for the MoReTec-1 facility.

Also, LYB’s Cyclyx joint venture, based in Houston, reached a final investment decision to build a second Cyclyx Circularity Center (CCC2) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The new facility is expected to begin operations in the second half of 2026 and will produce approximately 136,000 metric tons of plastic feedstock per year for both mechanical and chemical recycling technologies. Combined with the CCC1 facility, which currently is under construction in Houston, the two Cyclyx plants will have the capacity to produce about 272,000 metric tons of plastic feedstock per year.

“As we look to the future, we remain steadfast in our commitment to sustainability and innovation,” Vanacker says. “Our investments in circular and low-carbon solutions, along with our dedication to safety and operational excellence, will drive our progress toward achieving our 2030 and 2050 goals. We are transforming our vision into lasting value, ensuring that we create meaningful impact for our customers, shareholders and society.”

Tracking plastic pellets

LYB reports that it lost zero plastic pellets to the environment in its operations in 2024.

The company notes that it sells polymer products in pellet, flake and powder form, which are handled at multiple points from production to transportation and delivery to customers. LYB is a member of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), a global initiative aimed at reducing the loss of such materials into the environment that supports its members in their efforts to identify and improve practices to achieve zero pellet loss.

The company says it monitors and reports pellet loss in accordance with guidance issued by the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC). A loss is defined as an unplanned release of polymeric solids from a site boundary in a quantity greater than 1.1 pounds in a single incident.

The report notes that the company filed one pellet loss incident across 77 sites in 2023, and four in both 2021 and 2022.