Trinseo and MagREEsource will collaborate to innovate high-value recycling solutions. The pair will combine Trinseo’s proprietary polymer dissolution recycling capabilities with MagREEsource’s proprietary rare earth magnets recycling model.
Trinseo & MagREEsource
Trinseo Chief Technology & Sustainability Officer Han Hendriks (left) signs a memorandum of understanding with MagREEsource CEO Eric Petit (right) on March 26.
“The technologies from Trinseo and MagREEsource are complementary, and we believe that value chain collaborations are fundamental to advancing sustainability,” said Han Hendriks, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer at Trinseo. “This partnership shows the shared vision of both companies.”
Erick Petit, President and Co-Founder of MagREEsource, added, “Our collaboration has the potential to benefit the value chain, as byproducts of Trinseo’s dissolution process could serve as input materials for our process. Byproduct magnets are an important part of the supply for our MagFactory (1,000 t/year of magnets production), construction of which is anticipated to begin at the end of 2026. Given the European Union’s ambitious sustainability plans, these innovations from MagREEsource and Trinseo contribute to advancing the EU industry’s progress toward sustainability targets by enabling increased material recovery and emissions reduction.”
Trinseo’s proprietary polymer dissolution recycling capabilities
Using a physical recycling process, Trinseo’s technology needs minimal sorting to extract polycarbonate (PC) from entire, end-of-life products, even when mixed or contaminated materials are involved. Extracted PC is recycled into new materials with over 70% cradle-to-gate estimated product carbon footprint reduction (calculated via Trinseo’s PCF and LCA tool following TfS guidelines, European Product Environment Footprint (PEF) methodology, GHG Protocol and ISO Standards 14040, 14044, and 14067), compared to its virgin counterpart. Meanwhile, non-PC components, like magnets, remain for further recycling.
This process is ideal for consumer and industrial products made primarily of PC and containing magnetic systems, like neodymium (NdFeB) magnets needed in low-carbon applications (e.g., wind turbines, electric vehicle motors, and automation).
MagREEsource’s proprietary rare earth magnets recycling model
Using its circular magnet-to-magnet model, MagREEsource works to recover end-of-life, rare-earth magnets, manufacturing new low-carbon magnets for demanding applications including windmills, electrical vehicles, aeronautics, and medical, meeting EU market demands.