PureCycle Technologies to supply L’Oreal

PureCycle Technologies, Chicago, has announced an agreement with beauty company L’Oréal, Paris, to supply polypropylene (PP) that has been recycled using technology it has licensed from Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati.   

With this agreement, the production from PureCycle’s still-under-construction Ohio plant has been fully contracted for sale, the company says. It also gives L’Oréal the option to be among the first purchasers of volume out of PureCycle’s first plant in Europe.

In the news release announcing the agreement, PureCycle says it is “accelerating the build-out and commercialization of its technology in key global markets to keep up with demand.”

“We continue to see an increasing global need for a recycled resin with virgin-like properties. With our first plant in Ohio already being sold out more than two years before the plant will be producing commercial scale volumes, this showcases the intense demand resulting in an accelerated build-out of our next plant in Europe,” says Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle Technologies.

In addition to being a customer, L’Oréal has become a strategic partner for PureCycle and is bringing consumer market knowledge, technical expertise and a global perspective to help ensure that PureCycle’s PP meets and exceeds consumer demand for a recycled resin that delivers virgin-like aesthetics and performance, PureCycle says.

“For L’Oréal, the agreement represents a strategic next step in our sustainable packaging strategy, designed to accelerate the transition to the circular economy,” Philippe Thuvien, vice president of packaging and development for the L’Oréal Group, says. “L’Oréal’s ambition is that by 2025, 50 percent of the plastics used in our packaging will either be bio-sourced or of recycled origin, which encompasses all plastic types, polypropylene being a major milestone. We are convinced that it is our responsibility to support the rising of cutting-edge recycling technologies.”

PureCycle is building its first plant in Lawrence County, Ohio. The company says the plant will produce more than 105 million pounds of recycled PP annually using 119 million pounds of scrap input. Production is scheduled to start in 2021.

The company says demand for the volume to be produced by its first plant exceeds its production capabilities, leading PureCycle to begin planning for a second plant in Europe. PureCycle says it is evaluating locations.

PureCycle says it plans to seek bond financing with Piper Jaffray and has received an independent evaluation conducted by Moody’s Investor Services with respect to attaining a Green Bond Rating, achieving a rating of Excellent (GB1).

PureCycle Technologies is a portfolio company of Innventure, a Wasson Enterprise Partnership.