Plastic Energy and TotalEnergies sign Spain-based advanced recycling project agreement

Plastic Energy and TotalEnergies have announced a new agreement to promote the development of advanced plastic recycling and build a second advanced recycling plant in Sevilla, Spain, in addition to their existing operational plant, which will transform end-of-life plastic waste into a recycled feedstock called TACOIL using Plastic Energy’s patented recycling technology.

TotalEnergies will convert this raw material into virgin-quality polymers, which can be used for food-grade packaging.

The plant will process and convert 33,000 tonnes of post-consumer end-of-life plastic waste yearly. The plant is expected to become operational in early 2025, with TACOIL to be used for the manufacturing of high-quality polymers in TotalEnergies’ European-based production units. The recycled polymers will be suitable for use in food-grade applications, such as flexible and rigid food packaging containers.

Plastic Energy and TotalEnergies have thus both committed to developing plastics recycling to address the issue of waste and to build a circular economy. In line with this commitment, TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy announced in September 2020 a joint venture to build a plastic waste conversion facility with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes per year at the TotalEnergies Grandpuits zero-crude platform in France. The project is expected to be operational in 2023.

Carlos Monreal, founder and CEO of Plastic Energy, said: “I am pleased to announce another new Plastic Energy plant in Spain, and a new collaboration agreement with our partner, TotalEnergies. This new large-scale recycling plant will be an impactful addition to our existing portfolio of operational plants in Spain and will allow for an increase in the amount of end-of-life plastics that we can recycle in Europe.”

Valérie Goff, Senior Vice President, Polymers at TotalEnergies, added: “This new project with Plastic Energy in Spain follows two collaboration projects already announced in France and the US. Those projects contribute to addressing the challenge of the circular economy and to our ambition of producing 30 per cent recycled and renewable polymers by 2030.”