EDITOR’s NOTE: Part 1 of 2: By Bob Grace
Several companies discussed their ongoing efforts to boost plastics recycling and circularity during European Marketing Group’s recent media event in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The June 4-5 sessions allowed the firms to highlight what they intend to introduce at the massive K 2025 trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany, from Oct. 8-15.
Here are a few highlights from those presentations.
GCR Plastics Solutions (K 2025: Booth K27, Hall 8A)
Spanish recycler GCR Plastic Solutions plans to broaden its line of post-consumer recycled plastic resins, and is also preparing to launch a new company and brand.
Sandra Fernández Freixa, marketing and sustainability director, told reporters that at the K Show GCR will introduce a new range of recycled polyolefins based on its existing Ciclic® range. This addition will supplement its Granic® line of sustainable mineral masterbatches.
Late last year the 24-year-old GCR opened one of Europe’s largest mechanical recycling plants for polyolefins. The €100 million plant, located in Castellet i la Gornal, just outside Barcelona, took the company six years to design and build, according to Miquel Alegret, GCR’s senior director of business development. It has an annual capacity of 130,000 metric tonnes –– roughly 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer polyethylene and polypropylene, and 30,000 tonnes of post-industrial polyolefins. (See video about the plant.)
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TotalEnergies (Booth E20, Hall 6)
An official with France-based TotalEnergies, a global energy company with more than 100,000 employees, says the firm aims to produce 1 million tonnes of circular polymers by 2030. To achieve this, TotalEnergies continues to build on its RE:clic range of circular polymers, launched three years ago, touting the sub-themes of RE:use (mechanical recycling), RE:build (advanced recycling via pyrolysis) and RE:newable (from bio-based feedstocks).
Tom Houpeline, the company’s vice president of polymers/low carbon solutions and business development, said TotalEnergies plans to start up a huge new steam cracker in Saudi Arabia in 2027, with 1.65 million tonnes per year of ethylene production capacity.
Meanwhile, Elke Berges, business manager of packaging at TotalEnergies, said the company also is working to develop all-PE, monomaterial pouches that are fully recyclable. She added that at the firm’s Synova site in northwest France, they are working to close the loop by recycling PP automotive bumpers and door handle from end-of-life vehicles.
LyondellBasell Industries (Booth D12, Hall 8A)
Houston-based LyondellBasell Industries, a global producer of polyolefins and chemicals that posted 2024 sales of $40.3 billion, is reorienting its assets and approach to help it drive circularity in the global polymer industry. In addition to shutting down and selling some assets, the company continues to invest heavily in sustainable technologies, including both mechanical and chemical recycling technologies and bio-circular feedstocks, according to Gianluca Brescia, VP and general manager for polyolefins in Europe.
At the pre-K event, officials showcased recent developments in its Circulen portfolio, including its CirculenRecover through mechanical recycling, CirculenRevive through chemical recycling, and CirculenRenew using bio-circular feedstock.
LYB noted that its MoReTec chemical recycling technology provides an effective solution for processing pre-sorted, mixed plastic waste. The catalytic process achieves more than 80% plastic-to-plastic yield and is estimated to have at least 50% lower carbon footprint compared to fossil-based feedstock processes.
Envalior (Booth B11, Hall 6)
Engineering materials giant Envalior –– created in 2023 through the merger of DSM Engineering Materials and Lanxess High Performance Materials –– will showcase its new brand at K 2025 while also stressing its 100-plus years of combined heritage.
The Düsseldorf, Germany-based is focusing its attention on three key sectors: Mobility, Electrical & Electronics, and Consumer Goods. Marc Marbach, global business director for PBT, called its new Pocan® PBT grade a “game-changer.”
In the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector, the company displayed halogen-free, flame-retardant PA6 grades. It calls them “sustainable drop-in alternatives to fossil-derived grades for miniature circuit breakers (MCBs), switches and connectors. In consumer goods, Chris Urlings, global business director for Arnitel and Arnite, highlighted some high-end, lightweight Norda-brand running shoes featuring Envalior’s Arnitel® thermoplastic copolyester (TPC) foaming grades in the midsoles.
SABIC (Booth D42, Hall 6)
Officials for Saudi Arabia-based SABIC showcased a number of end-use applications at the event. The company used its certified renewable polypropylene polymers for the jar and label for new cosmetics packaging produced for Lumene. By replacing fossil-based plastics with a bio-renewable alternative, the firms reduced the carbon footprint of the packaging by 38%.
Marco Delmino, director of commercial and supply chain Europe, specialties at SABIC, said the company won an Edison Award recently for its smartphone middle frames that use a pair of LNP Elcrin compounds, which help to boost fire safety and signal performance. He also noted how another product won a bronze Edison Award ––LNP Elcres FST2734E grade, marking the first flame, smoke and toxicity (FST)-compliant, sustainable, high-quality thermoplastic for railway interiors. The material can be extruded or thermoformed, he said.
The company also worked with Dutch solar panel maker Solarge to develop and commercialize lightweight, circular polypropylene (PP) solar panels. These panels are fully recyclable and 50% lighter than conventional glass-based panels.
INEOS Styrolution (contact INEOS to arrange a meeting at the K Show)
Frankfurt am Main, Germany-based INEOS Styrolution, a leading styrenics producer, sees chemically recycled styrene monomer (SM) in its immediate future. On June 24, a company spokeswoman stated, “We expect to receive the first delivery of recycled SM to our Antwerp site within the next few weeks.”
Indaver, a leading player in the European waste industry, signed an offtake agreement with INEOS Styrolution three years ago under which the German company would purchase styrene monomer produced by Indaver from waste polystyrene (PS) via a depolymerization process at its new facility. This initiative, said Sven Riechers, INEOS’ VP of sales management for EMEA, aims to create a circular economy for PS resin, enabling its recycling back into food-grade packaging and other applications.
The company also continues to invest in mechanical recycling. At the end of 2024 it successfully completed a first project with mechanically recycled polystyrene in a yoghurt cup. Working with partners Müller and PreZero along a multi-step process –– ranging from sorting, hot washing and flake sorting to melt filtration and pelletizing –– INEOS Styrolution used what it calls its “super clean process” to produce food-contact-quality recyclates that before could only be obtained from PET bottle recyclates.
The initial cups contain 30 percent recyclate, though Riechers said that percentage could go much higher. German grocery chain Lidl will be selling the yoghurt in these cups. The recycled material, called Styrolution PS ECO, offers the same physical properties as conventionally produced polystyrene, while reducing CO2 emissions by 60 percent.
By using both recycling and bio-attributed solutions, the company said its goals include saving 1 million tonnes of CO2e in 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050; selling 500,000 tonnes of INEOS Styrolution ECO products in 2030; and guaranteeing 100 percent regulatory compliance with conventional and ECO products.
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