TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy to build second recycling plant in Spain

TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy will promote the development of advanced plastic recycling by building a second advanced recycling plant in Spain, in addition to their existing operational plant.

The companies said that the plant will process and convert 33,000 tons of post-consumer end-of-life plastic waste yearly, that would otherwise be destined for landfill or incineration.

The plant will transform end-of-life plastic waste into a recycled feedstock called TACOIL using Plastic Energy’s patented recycling technology, the companies explained.

“TotalEnergies will convert this raw material into virgin-quality polymers, which can be used for food-grade packaging,” the companies said in a statement.

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, following a successful processing experimentation in TotalEnergies’ petrochemical platform in Antwerp.

The companies said that the recycled polymers will be suitable for use in food-grade applications, such as flexible and rigid food packaging containers.

Both TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy have 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. This project is expected to be operational in 2023, the companies said.

In 2021, the companies along with Freepoint Eco-Systems announced a strategic partnership for a similar recycling plant in Texas. It has the capacity to recycle 33,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year and is expected to be operational by mid-2024.