SABIC sets 1M ton recycling target

Saudi Arabia-based conglomerate SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) says it is reaffirming its commitment to “accelerate the circular carbon economy” by setting a target to make 1 million metric tons annually of its recycled-content TruCircle plastic by 2030.

The firm stated its ambition to process 1 million metric tons of the recycled-content resins annually at the January 2023 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

“Driving circularity for plastics will require a rapid transformation of the entire value chain, which is only possible through collective action, innovation, and collaboration across the industry and ecosystem of waste management," CEO Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh said at the event. "Therefore, we are working hard with downstream and upstream partners to accelerate this process.”

SABIC announced at the 2019 Davos event that it intended to build a small-scale commercial unit to produce certified circular polymers from the “advanced” recycling of discarded plastics. Since then, SABIC says it has engaged in advanced recycling efforts for brand owners and customers.

Construction of the company’s first commercial unit in Geleen, Netherlands, is now entering the final stages and deliveries of its first circular polymers are expected in 2023, according to SABIC.

As its next step toward the 2030 target, SABIC says it will “upscale volumes globally of advanced and mechanical recycling as well as bio-based materials.” The company says it is exploring “a new world-scale commercial advanced recycling investment that would have a potential capacity to process around 200,000 metric tons of circular materials per year.

Since 2020, SABIC says its certified circular polypropylene (PP) has been used in ice cream tubs by the Unilever ice cream brand Magnum. In another collaboration, SABIC teamed up with Mars and Landbell in a closed-loop recycling project designed to close the loop on a PP snack bar wrapper.

The SABIC TruCircle portfolio includes “certified circular products, certified bio-based products, based on certified second and third generation renewable feedstock, and mechanically recycled polymers, ocean and ocean-bound recycled solutions, as well as closed-loop services and design for recyclability,” the company says.