Communicator

Beatriz Santos | 22/01/2025 | Sustainable Plastics

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) saw publication in the Official Journal of the European Union on Jan. 22, 2025.

The legislation will officially come into force on Feb. 11, 2025. EU regulations become binding upon publication on the Official Journal. All member states are required to comply with the regulation.

The PPWR will apply from August 12, 2026, 18 months after the regulation comes into force.

The European Parliament approved the final PPWR text in November 2024. The document is available in all EU languages.

The EU Parliament had approved a preliminary version of the legislation on April 24, 2024, with 476 votes in favour, 129 against, and 24 abstentions. That version of the text only included a version in English and hadn’t undergone the required legal-linguistic review.

The PPWR includes packaging reduction targets (5% by 2030, 10% by 2035 and 15% by 2040) and require EU countries to reduce, in particular, the amount of plastic packaging waste.

Under the new rules, all packaging, except for lightweight wood, cork, textile, rubber, ceramic, porcelain and wax, will have to be recyclable by fulfilling strict criteria. It introduces, as of 2030, a recyclability performance grade scale from A to C stating the extent to which packaging is considered recyclable, being 95% grade A, 80% grade B, and 70% grade C. 

The legislation includes provisions on recycling targets of 50% for plastic packaging by 2025 and 55% by 2030 and foresees recycled content targets for all types of plastic packaging, with the most demanding ones set for 2040 – including 65% recycled content for SUP beverage bottles, 50% for PET contact-sensitive packaging, and 65% for other packaging.

By 2029, 90% of single use plastic and metal beverage containers up to three litres will have to be collected separately, via deposit-return systems or other solutions that ensure the collection target is met.

Throughout the two long years after the first draft PPWR was introduced, the text has generated a lot of controversy. Some industry groups claim the legislation lacks ‘material neutrality’ by singling-out plastics, whilst others argue that secondary legislation will be required to make it work.


#recycling  #plasticrecycling  #plasticwaste  #plasticpackaging #sustainability 

Alterra closes investment round with the expectation to accelerate the commercialisation of its plastics pyrolysis technology

Investors Infinity Recycling, Chevron Phillips Chemical, LyondellBasell, and Neste, along with long-term support from Potenza Capital, have successfully closed their latest round of equity funding in Alterra Energy (formerly Vadxx Energy). This investment round is expected to accelerate the commercialization of Alterra’s plastics pyrolysis technology, designed to transform discarded plastic into valuable raw materials.

Alterra's advanced recycling technology has been modeled on ppPLUS and the mass balance of the company's demo plant in Akron has been created. One main product the technology is producing is plastics pyoil, which may be fractionnated to separate naphtha, which can be used as a feedstock returned to the cracker to produce ethylene among other products. The feedstock the technology is accepting is mostly clean polyolefin waste.

Source: Alterra, 22^nd Oct 2024 & portfolio planning PLUS.

#alterra  #lyondellbasell  #neste  #cpchem  #pyrolysis  #plasticwaste  #advancedrecycling  #molecularrecycling  #chemicalrecycling  #pyoil  #steamcracking  #naphtha  #ethylene  #polyethylene  

In its 2023 sustainability report, published in March, Shell is stating that:

“In 2023 we concluded that the scale of our ambition to turn 1m tonnes of plastic waste a year into pyrolysis oil by 2025 is unfeasible.”

The report justifies this step back from the previous commitment due to changing market conditions:
 
“While Shell sees customer demand for circular chemicals, the pace of growth globally is less than expected due to lack of available feedstock, slow technology development and regulatory uncertainty.”

On its website, Shell advocates for chemical recycling (photo) with the following statement:

“Chemical recycling through pyrolysis, where hard-to-recycle plastic waste like snack bags, ready meals, or plastic film, that are not suitable for mechanical recycling, are turned into pyrolysis oil, a liquid that replaces hydrocarbons to produce circular chemicals.”

Shell has started its strategy to build up chemical recycling capaciities by signing a strategic supply agreement with Nexus Fuels (now Nexus Circular) back in 2019. Nexus operates a 'pilot' Nexus Pyrolysis plant with a rated capacity of 50 tonnes per day at its production site in Atlanta .

Since that date, Shell has successively invested in Dutch  company BlueAlp, signed pyrolysis oil supply agreements with Pryme, another Dutch  company, and with Finnish  company Lamor in Europe, with Environmental Solutions Asia in Singapore , and with Freepoint Eco-Systems in the U.S.A. , invested in two pyrolysis oil upgraders at its Mordijk site in The Netherlands   and signed a LOU with Dialog Group Berhad in Malaysia  and a MOU with the European branch of Agilyx in Norway  for the development of chemical recycling plants.

This step back from the pledge to develop chemical recycling follows on the previous announcement that Shell is pulling out of planned e-SAF project in Sweden.

#chemicalrecycling  #advancedrecycling  #molecularrecycling  #mechanicalrecycling  #plasticwaste  #pyoil  #pyrolysisoil  #plasticspyoil 

The seventh extension of the Italian Plastic Tax until July 2026 has been announced.

The Plastic Tax is a tax with a fixed value of 0.45 € that producers, importers and consumers should pay for each kilo of plastic products sold or purchased.

The 2020 budget law of the Giallorossi Conte government had introduced the Plastic Tax, i.e. the tax on the consumption of single-use plastic products, The tax, designed to target the use of polluting single-use plastics, immediately proved to be very complicated to apply, and had sparked a revolt among companies in the affected sector.

The 2020 relaunch decree, in the midst of the Covid period, had postponed the tax to 1 January 2021. Then the 2021 budget law had postponed the plastic tax to 1 July 2021. The Sostegni bis decree of May 2021 had brought the plastic tax back to 1 January 2022. Then there were the two budget laws for 2022 and 2023 which postponed the tax by one year, that is, for the last, until 1 January 2024. With the 2024 budget, after many discussions on the possible abolition of the tax, the last postponement arrived until July 2024, the one currently in force.

The newest change is contained in the government's stamped amendment to the Superbonus Law Decree, under discussion in the Senate. Here the extension appears for the plastic tax: it is to come into force from 1 July 2024 to 1 July 2026.

Source: Marini di Andrea, 11^th May 2024, Il Sole 24 ORE,

#plastictax  #plasticwaste  #plasticrecycling 

LyondellBasell today announced the formal launch of a strategic review of the European assets of its Olefins & Polyolefins and Intermediates & Derivatives business units. The assessment will evaluate the assets through the lens of the company's strategy to Grow & Upgrade the Core, Build a Profitable Circular and Low Carbon Solutions Business, and Step Up Performance & Culture.

"At the 2023 Capital Markets Day, we stated our intent to concentrate our portfolio around businesses with long-lasting competitive advantage and to reinvest around those advantaged areas generating superior returns at meaningful scale," said Peter Vanacker, LyondellBasell chief executive officer. "These criteria have not changed."

The company's investments in a commercial-scale MoReTec plant, LyondellBasell's proprietary technology to convert plastic waste into liquid raw materials, and the development of a circularity hub in the Cologne, Germany region will continue as planned. LyondellBasell will also continue to invest and leverage its differential technology position as a key enabler to grow and upgrade the core asset base.

"The company will prioritize its investments to align operations with our circularity and net zero ambitions," Vanacker added. "We understand that strategic assessments can create uncertainty for our employees and customers, but we are committed to operate our assets safely and reliably throughout this process."

Source: LyondellBasell Corporate & Financial News, 8^th May 2024

#olefins #polyolefins  #europe  #assets  #circularity  #netzero  #plasticwaste 

Viridor has assumed full ownership of Quantafuel as the Oslo Stock Exchange delisted Quantafuel AS’ shares from Euronext Growth on 7th February.

Viridor, 8th Feb 2024.

#pyrolysis  #plasticwaste  #recycling  #chemicalrecycling 

The description of the Plastic Pyrolysis Process has been significantly augmented with a lot of practical information details.
#chemicalrecycling  #advancedrecycling  #circularity  #circulareconomy  #plasticwaste  #recycling