Belgium – Indaver Plastics2Chemicals has opened its first industrial plant for the advanced recycling of polystyrene and polyolefins. With these plants, food packaging can be recycled into new raw materials for new food packaging.
Separate campaigns
Indaver launched Plastics2Chemicals in 2017. The company worked with UGent, UAntwerpen and KU Leuven on a technology for advanced recycling. The construction of the recycling plant took two years. In the coming weeks, all plant components will be tested extensively. After that, the plant will process about 3 tons of plastic waste per hour or 26,000 tons per year.
The first recycled basic chemicals are expected to be delivered by the end of 2024. In the first phase, P2C will recycle polystyrene from food packaging into styrene. After that, the company will alternate between recycling PS and PO in separate campaigns. In doing so, the processing process of PO is somewhat different. First, the company produces naphtha, which is then converted to ethylene and propylene in steam crackers.
Plastics2Chemicals cooperates with its parent companies Indaver and Katoen Natie in the sorting and pretreatment of polystyrene and polyolefins. P2C has signed agreements with Citeo in France and Fost Plus in Belgium regarding the supply of waste plastics. Signatories for the purchase of recyclate included Trinseo, INEOS Styrolution and TotalEnergies.
Scaling up
P2C plans to scale up in 2028 to become the largest depolymerization facility in Europe. A second line will then increase capacity to 65 thousand tons per year. Indaver P2C is in talks to build advanced recycling plants at other strategic locations in Europe.
