plastic resin producers’ move to circular economy is … · 2018-10-22 · plastic resin...
TRANSCRIPT
By Pavle Popovic
PLASTIC RESIN PRODUCERSrsquo
MOVE TO CIRCULAR
ECONOMY IS JUST THE START
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
PLASTIC RESINPLASTIC RESIN PRODUCERSrsquo MOVE TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS JUST THE START
BY PAVLE POPOVIC MARCH 2018
In the past year the effect of plastic leakage on the environment has become a predominant issue globally but a drive by polyolefin producers to achieve a circular economy in order to stop this predates recent discussions on the topic
However it can be questioned whether these steps were and are enough especially after new targets were set by the European Commission (EC) in its plastics strategy launch in January
The ECrsquos strategy focused on making recycling profitable for businesses as it attempted to limit plastic waste as well as marine littering while pushing for investment and innovation
Its motive is to provide a foundation for a circular economy in which plastic waste is curbed through the reuse of a product after it has been initially consumed
Soon after the ECrsquos announcement media agencies concentrated on news that brand owners responded swiftly
US-based beverage major Coca-Cola said that it aimed to produce bottles that average 50 recycled material by 2030 while UK retailer Iceland pledged to eliminate or drastically reduce use of plastic packaging in its branded products by 2023
However the petrochemical industry has seen such a response before
Back in July 2017 Coca-Cola announced that it would double the use of recycled plastic in its bottles in Great Britain to 50 by 2020
Industry sources at the time questioned the feasibility of such a move and wondered whether enough reprocessed material such as recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) was available to meet a consequent growth in demand
Furthermore market participants said they had been in this situation previously
Request a demo
Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions
n Pre-empt competition and ensure security of stock with real-time plant disruption information
n Spot opportunities and support your strategic decisions
n Gain new context and negotiating tools in addition to ICIS price assessments
New transformative tools to optimise your business needs
Additional reporting by Melissa Bartlett Jonathan Lopez and Linda Naylor
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
US184
South Korea560
Japan551
Germany
France
China including Hong Kong2512
Number of patents related to recycling and secondary raw materials
Country
Australia 14
Austria 10
Belgium 15
Canada 25
China inc 2512
Czech Republic 7
Denmark 8
Finland 14
France 54
Germany 93
Greece 1
Hungary 2
Ireland 2
Italy 35
Japan 551
Latvia 3
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 3
Netherlands 14
Poland 35
Portugal 1
Romania 2
Russia 30
Slovakia 1
Slovenia 2
South Korea 560
Spain 29
Sweden 8
UK 24
US 184
NUMBER OF PATENTS RELATED TO RECYCLING AND SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS IN 2013
Source Eurostat
In prior instances they said that firms chasing environmental targets would abandon them and use plastic resin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) also known as virgin material when it was cheaper than R-PET
While trade group the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) considers PET to be the most recycled plastic packaging material in Europe other virgin plastic resins are consumed in greater quantities
Polyolefins polymers produced with a single olefin are for instance put into most plastic packaging yet the end uses of these chemicals can be challenging to recycle
Consequently to fulfil circular economy targets it is clear that it is not only brand owners that need to re-imagine and redefine their businesses
The plastic industry as a whole needs to develop better ways of reusing material and that partially begins with producing more recycled volumes for consumers to use
As a large percentage of plastic packaging is made from polyolefins as well as PET major producers launched initiatives that intend to do just that
French petrochemical major Total for instance
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
announced in August 2016 that it had introduced a new range of high density polyethylene (HDPE) that had a guaranteed minimum content of 25 or 50 post-consumer recyclates
Total has a 20000 tonneyear site producing this new range of HDPE and argued in August 2016 that the material the facility manufactured would largely outperform virgin resin in application
Another chemical major Germanyrsquos BASF entered a joint venture called Synvina with Dutch research institute Avantium
Synvina based in Amsterdam produces bio-based plastic polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) for packaging use
EPBP gave Synvinarsquos product interim approval for its recyclability and BASF estimated that this gave the PEF it produced 2 penetration into the bottle market
Furthermore Austria-headquartered Borealis announced in July 2016 its acquisition of German recyclers mtm plastics
Mtm plastics recycles mixed post-consumer plastic waste and Borealis said it is considered one of Europersquos largest producers of polyolefin recyclates
LyondellBasell recently announced the start up of a joint venture with resources management firm SUEZ for plastics recycling the chemical major announced in March 2018
The joint venture will be called Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) Each partner will have a 50 stake and it will be based in Sittard-Geleen the Netherlands
QCP intends to transform used plastic material into virgin-replacement polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials
ldquoThe plant is capable of converting consumer waste into 25000 tonnes of PP and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an objective of 35000 tonnes later in 2018 and 100000 tonnes by 2020rdquo said LyondellBasell
ldquoThe production capacity of the plant will address a growing need for improving the sustainability profile of high-quality plastics in Europerdquo
Even with all these developments Tom Crotty a director at European polymers major INEOS and Borealis CEO Mark Garrett have said that a true circular economy is unrealistic
Persons employed - total employment00 05 10 15 20 25 30
United KingdomSweden
SpainSloveniaSlovakiaRomaniaPortugal
PolandNorway
NetherlandsLithuania
LatviaItaly
HungaryGreece
GermanyFranceFinland
DenmarkCyprusCroatia
BulgariaBelgiumAustria
CIRCULAR ECONOMY RELATED JOBS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN 2015
Source Eurostat
IDENTIFY EVALUATE AND OPTIMISE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The ICIS Supply amp Demand Database supports research long-term planning and strategic decision making
With so many changes taking place in the petrochemical trading behaviour it is not easy to anticipate how markets will evolve and the potential implications to a companyrsquos growth strategy or to new business ventures
Covering more than 100 petrochemical commodities across global markets it includes capacity production consumption and trade flow data historically from 1978 and forecast to 2040
REQUEST A FREE TRIAL NOW
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Nonetheless the necessity of adapting to new social and environmental concerns is evidently becoming more relevant to petrochemical companies
ldquoWe see this as a business opportunity for sure We know it is not so easy Itrsquos costlyrdquo said Gunther Stephan head of circular economy solutions at Borealis
ldquoBut I think in combination with our capability as virgin PO [polyolefin] producers it is not a question of either or itrsquos virgin or itrsquos recycling On the contrary it is a hand-in-hand [situation]
ldquoWith our experience on the virgin side we can not only make more available plastics solutions to our customers We can do the same with the recycled material as wellrdquo he added
ldquoWe definitely see plastics waste as an addition and another source of feedstock for producing plasticsrdquo
One hurdle to overcome is the design of packaging as multi-layer products can pose a challenge for recyclers
Borealis said it would tackle this with UAE polyolefin producer Borouge when it presented in October 2016 a monomaterial polyethylene (PE) for flexible packaging
The Austria-headquartered firm explained that flexible
plastic packaging often had a multilateral structure which made recycling it less efficient as well as unattractive
It went on to say that its new product was as efficient as other flex pack structures while recyclate gained from it could even be used in PE film products
ldquoThatrsquos why we Borealis we sit together with the big brand owners to see how we can really change the design to make these products recyclable and I think this is the keyrdquo said Stephan
ldquoIt is not a question per se whether the material itself is recyclable You can recycle polypropylene (PP) 99 pure You can do that but itrsquos just the way you make the packaging out of it which makes it complicated
ldquoJust imagine you have a material which [is] not completely clean and empty toothpaste [or a] ketchup bottle
ldquoThe material is contaminated with food and that takes a lot of effort and cost if you want to get that out during the recycling process and thatrsquos a challenge And thatrsquos what we have to work on with the brand owners
ldquoThe solution may lay in creating mono-layer film and again we have the capabilities from an innovation perspective to make it as durable as multi-layered filmrdquo
Source Eurostat
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
Circ
ular
mat
eria
l use
rate
()
Circular material use rate
Country - Click on a country to highlight it on the graphAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark
EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIreland
ItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPoland
PortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenUnited Kingdom
Data source Eurostat
CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE
Source Eurostat
GROSS INVESTMENT IN TANGIBLE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOODS AS OF GDP FOR THE EU (28 COUNTRIES)
0109
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0118
0119
0120
201520142013
Gro
ss in
vest
men
t in
tan
gib
le g
oo
ds
-
gro
ss d
om
estic
pro
du
ct (
GD
P)
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
ICIS AT NPE 20187-11 MAY ORANGE COUNTY
CONVENTION CENTRE ORLANDO FLORIDA
Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
We are also pleased to launch our new Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions designed to help you optimise opportunities in a demand-led and price sensitive global market-place
REQUEST A FREE DEMO AT NPE
In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
PLASTIC RESINPLASTIC RESIN PRODUCERSrsquo MOVE TO CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS JUST THE START
BY PAVLE POPOVIC MARCH 2018
In the past year the effect of plastic leakage on the environment has become a predominant issue globally but a drive by polyolefin producers to achieve a circular economy in order to stop this predates recent discussions on the topic
However it can be questioned whether these steps were and are enough especially after new targets were set by the European Commission (EC) in its plastics strategy launch in January
The ECrsquos strategy focused on making recycling profitable for businesses as it attempted to limit plastic waste as well as marine littering while pushing for investment and innovation
Its motive is to provide a foundation for a circular economy in which plastic waste is curbed through the reuse of a product after it has been initially consumed
Soon after the ECrsquos announcement media agencies concentrated on news that brand owners responded swiftly
US-based beverage major Coca-Cola said that it aimed to produce bottles that average 50 recycled material by 2030 while UK retailer Iceland pledged to eliminate or drastically reduce use of plastic packaging in its branded products by 2023
However the petrochemical industry has seen such a response before
Back in July 2017 Coca-Cola announced that it would double the use of recycled plastic in its bottles in Great Britain to 50 by 2020
Industry sources at the time questioned the feasibility of such a move and wondered whether enough reprocessed material such as recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) was available to meet a consequent growth in demand
Furthermore market participants said they had been in this situation previously
Request a demo
Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions
n Pre-empt competition and ensure security of stock with real-time plant disruption information
n Spot opportunities and support your strategic decisions
n Gain new context and negotiating tools in addition to ICIS price assessments
New transformative tools to optimise your business needs
Additional reporting by Melissa Bartlett Jonathan Lopez and Linda Naylor
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
US184
South Korea560
Japan551
Germany
France
China including Hong Kong2512
Number of patents related to recycling and secondary raw materials
Country
Australia 14
Austria 10
Belgium 15
Canada 25
China inc 2512
Czech Republic 7
Denmark 8
Finland 14
France 54
Germany 93
Greece 1
Hungary 2
Ireland 2
Italy 35
Japan 551
Latvia 3
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 3
Netherlands 14
Poland 35
Portugal 1
Romania 2
Russia 30
Slovakia 1
Slovenia 2
South Korea 560
Spain 29
Sweden 8
UK 24
US 184
NUMBER OF PATENTS RELATED TO RECYCLING AND SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS IN 2013
Source Eurostat
In prior instances they said that firms chasing environmental targets would abandon them and use plastic resin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) also known as virgin material when it was cheaper than R-PET
While trade group the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) considers PET to be the most recycled plastic packaging material in Europe other virgin plastic resins are consumed in greater quantities
Polyolefins polymers produced with a single olefin are for instance put into most plastic packaging yet the end uses of these chemicals can be challenging to recycle
Consequently to fulfil circular economy targets it is clear that it is not only brand owners that need to re-imagine and redefine their businesses
The plastic industry as a whole needs to develop better ways of reusing material and that partially begins with producing more recycled volumes for consumers to use
As a large percentage of plastic packaging is made from polyolefins as well as PET major producers launched initiatives that intend to do just that
French petrochemical major Total for instance
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
announced in August 2016 that it had introduced a new range of high density polyethylene (HDPE) that had a guaranteed minimum content of 25 or 50 post-consumer recyclates
Total has a 20000 tonneyear site producing this new range of HDPE and argued in August 2016 that the material the facility manufactured would largely outperform virgin resin in application
Another chemical major Germanyrsquos BASF entered a joint venture called Synvina with Dutch research institute Avantium
Synvina based in Amsterdam produces bio-based plastic polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) for packaging use
EPBP gave Synvinarsquos product interim approval for its recyclability and BASF estimated that this gave the PEF it produced 2 penetration into the bottle market
Furthermore Austria-headquartered Borealis announced in July 2016 its acquisition of German recyclers mtm plastics
Mtm plastics recycles mixed post-consumer plastic waste and Borealis said it is considered one of Europersquos largest producers of polyolefin recyclates
LyondellBasell recently announced the start up of a joint venture with resources management firm SUEZ for plastics recycling the chemical major announced in March 2018
The joint venture will be called Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) Each partner will have a 50 stake and it will be based in Sittard-Geleen the Netherlands
QCP intends to transform used plastic material into virgin-replacement polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials
ldquoThe plant is capable of converting consumer waste into 25000 tonnes of PP and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an objective of 35000 tonnes later in 2018 and 100000 tonnes by 2020rdquo said LyondellBasell
ldquoThe production capacity of the plant will address a growing need for improving the sustainability profile of high-quality plastics in Europerdquo
Even with all these developments Tom Crotty a director at European polymers major INEOS and Borealis CEO Mark Garrett have said that a true circular economy is unrealistic
Persons employed - total employment00 05 10 15 20 25 30
United KingdomSweden
SpainSloveniaSlovakiaRomaniaPortugal
PolandNorway
NetherlandsLithuania
LatviaItaly
HungaryGreece
GermanyFranceFinland
DenmarkCyprusCroatia
BulgariaBelgiumAustria
CIRCULAR ECONOMY RELATED JOBS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN 2015
Source Eurostat
IDENTIFY EVALUATE AND OPTIMISE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The ICIS Supply amp Demand Database supports research long-term planning and strategic decision making
With so many changes taking place in the petrochemical trading behaviour it is not easy to anticipate how markets will evolve and the potential implications to a companyrsquos growth strategy or to new business ventures
Covering more than 100 petrochemical commodities across global markets it includes capacity production consumption and trade flow data historically from 1978 and forecast to 2040
REQUEST A FREE TRIAL NOW
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Nonetheless the necessity of adapting to new social and environmental concerns is evidently becoming more relevant to petrochemical companies
ldquoWe see this as a business opportunity for sure We know it is not so easy Itrsquos costlyrdquo said Gunther Stephan head of circular economy solutions at Borealis
ldquoBut I think in combination with our capability as virgin PO [polyolefin] producers it is not a question of either or itrsquos virgin or itrsquos recycling On the contrary it is a hand-in-hand [situation]
ldquoWith our experience on the virgin side we can not only make more available plastics solutions to our customers We can do the same with the recycled material as wellrdquo he added
ldquoWe definitely see plastics waste as an addition and another source of feedstock for producing plasticsrdquo
One hurdle to overcome is the design of packaging as multi-layer products can pose a challenge for recyclers
Borealis said it would tackle this with UAE polyolefin producer Borouge when it presented in October 2016 a monomaterial polyethylene (PE) for flexible packaging
The Austria-headquartered firm explained that flexible
plastic packaging often had a multilateral structure which made recycling it less efficient as well as unattractive
It went on to say that its new product was as efficient as other flex pack structures while recyclate gained from it could even be used in PE film products
ldquoThatrsquos why we Borealis we sit together with the big brand owners to see how we can really change the design to make these products recyclable and I think this is the keyrdquo said Stephan
ldquoIt is not a question per se whether the material itself is recyclable You can recycle polypropylene (PP) 99 pure You can do that but itrsquos just the way you make the packaging out of it which makes it complicated
ldquoJust imagine you have a material which [is] not completely clean and empty toothpaste [or a] ketchup bottle
ldquoThe material is contaminated with food and that takes a lot of effort and cost if you want to get that out during the recycling process and thatrsquos a challenge And thatrsquos what we have to work on with the brand owners
ldquoThe solution may lay in creating mono-layer film and again we have the capabilities from an innovation perspective to make it as durable as multi-layered filmrdquo
Source Eurostat
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
Circ
ular
mat
eria
l use
rate
()
Circular material use rate
Country - Click on a country to highlight it on the graphAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark
EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIreland
ItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPoland
PortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenUnited Kingdom
Data source Eurostat
CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE
Source Eurostat
GROSS INVESTMENT IN TANGIBLE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOODS AS OF GDP FOR THE EU (28 COUNTRIES)
0109
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0118
0119
0120
201520142013
Gro
ss in
vest
men
t in
tan
gib
le g
oo
ds
-
gro
ss d
om
estic
pro
du
ct (
GD
P)
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
ICIS AT NPE 20187-11 MAY ORANGE COUNTY
CONVENTION CENTRE ORLANDO FLORIDA
Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
We are also pleased to launch our new Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions designed to help you optimise opportunities in a demand-led and price sensitive global market-place
REQUEST A FREE DEMO AT NPE
In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
US184
South Korea560
Japan551
Germany
France
China including Hong Kong2512
Number of patents related to recycling and secondary raw materials
Country
Australia 14
Austria 10
Belgium 15
Canada 25
China inc 2512
Czech Republic 7
Denmark 8
Finland 14
France 54
Germany 93
Greece 1
Hungary 2
Ireland 2
Italy 35
Japan 551
Latvia 3
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 3
Netherlands 14
Poland 35
Portugal 1
Romania 2
Russia 30
Slovakia 1
Slovenia 2
South Korea 560
Spain 29
Sweden 8
UK 24
US 184
NUMBER OF PATENTS RELATED TO RECYCLING AND SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS IN 2013
Source Eurostat
In prior instances they said that firms chasing environmental targets would abandon them and use plastic resin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) also known as virgin material when it was cheaper than R-PET
While trade group the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) considers PET to be the most recycled plastic packaging material in Europe other virgin plastic resins are consumed in greater quantities
Polyolefins polymers produced with a single olefin are for instance put into most plastic packaging yet the end uses of these chemicals can be challenging to recycle
Consequently to fulfil circular economy targets it is clear that it is not only brand owners that need to re-imagine and redefine their businesses
The plastic industry as a whole needs to develop better ways of reusing material and that partially begins with producing more recycled volumes for consumers to use
As a large percentage of plastic packaging is made from polyolefins as well as PET major producers launched initiatives that intend to do just that
French petrochemical major Total for instance
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
announced in August 2016 that it had introduced a new range of high density polyethylene (HDPE) that had a guaranteed minimum content of 25 or 50 post-consumer recyclates
Total has a 20000 tonneyear site producing this new range of HDPE and argued in August 2016 that the material the facility manufactured would largely outperform virgin resin in application
Another chemical major Germanyrsquos BASF entered a joint venture called Synvina with Dutch research institute Avantium
Synvina based in Amsterdam produces bio-based plastic polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) for packaging use
EPBP gave Synvinarsquos product interim approval for its recyclability and BASF estimated that this gave the PEF it produced 2 penetration into the bottle market
Furthermore Austria-headquartered Borealis announced in July 2016 its acquisition of German recyclers mtm plastics
Mtm plastics recycles mixed post-consumer plastic waste and Borealis said it is considered one of Europersquos largest producers of polyolefin recyclates
LyondellBasell recently announced the start up of a joint venture with resources management firm SUEZ for plastics recycling the chemical major announced in March 2018
The joint venture will be called Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) Each partner will have a 50 stake and it will be based in Sittard-Geleen the Netherlands
QCP intends to transform used plastic material into virgin-replacement polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials
ldquoThe plant is capable of converting consumer waste into 25000 tonnes of PP and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an objective of 35000 tonnes later in 2018 and 100000 tonnes by 2020rdquo said LyondellBasell
ldquoThe production capacity of the plant will address a growing need for improving the sustainability profile of high-quality plastics in Europerdquo
Even with all these developments Tom Crotty a director at European polymers major INEOS and Borealis CEO Mark Garrett have said that a true circular economy is unrealistic
Persons employed - total employment00 05 10 15 20 25 30
United KingdomSweden
SpainSloveniaSlovakiaRomaniaPortugal
PolandNorway
NetherlandsLithuania
LatviaItaly
HungaryGreece
GermanyFranceFinland
DenmarkCyprusCroatia
BulgariaBelgiumAustria
CIRCULAR ECONOMY RELATED JOBS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN 2015
Source Eurostat
IDENTIFY EVALUATE AND OPTIMISE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The ICIS Supply amp Demand Database supports research long-term planning and strategic decision making
With so many changes taking place in the petrochemical trading behaviour it is not easy to anticipate how markets will evolve and the potential implications to a companyrsquos growth strategy or to new business ventures
Covering more than 100 petrochemical commodities across global markets it includes capacity production consumption and trade flow data historically from 1978 and forecast to 2040
REQUEST A FREE TRIAL NOW
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Nonetheless the necessity of adapting to new social and environmental concerns is evidently becoming more relevant to petrochemical companies
ldquoWe see this as a business opportunity for sure We know it is not so easy Itrsquos costlyrdquo said Gunther Stephan head of circular economy solutions at Borealis
ldquoBut I think in combination with our capability as virgin PO [polyolefin] producers it is not a question of either or itrsquos virgin or itrsquos recycling On the contrary it is a hand-in-hand [situation]
ldquoWith our experience on the virgin side we can not only make more available plastics solutions to our customers We can do the same with the recycled material as wellrdquo he added
ldquoWe definitely see plastics waste as an addition and another source of feedstock for producing plasticsrdquo
One hurdle to overcome is the design of packaging as multi-layer products can pose a challenge for recyclers
Borealis said it would tackle this with UAE polyolefin producer Borouge when it presented in October 2016 a monomaterial polyethylene (PE) for flexible packaging
The Austria-headquartered firm explained that flexible
plastic packaging often had a multilateral structure which made recycling it less efficient as well as unattractive
It went on to say that its new product was as efficient as other flex pack structures while recyclate gained from it could even be used in PE film products
ldquoThatrsquos why we Borealis we sit together with the big brand owners to see how we can really change the design to make these products recyclable and I think this is the keyrdquo said Stephan
ldquoIt is not a question per se whether the material itself is recyclable You can recycle polypropylene (PP) 99 pure You can do that but itrsquos just the way you make the packaging out of it which makes it complicated
ldquoJust imagine you have a material which [is] not completely clean and empty toothpaste [or a] ketchup bottle
ldquoThe material is contaminated with food and that takes a lot of effort and cost if you want to get that out during the recycling process and thatrsquos a challenge And thatrsquos what we have to work on with the brand owners
ldquoThe solution may lay in creating mono-layer film and again we have the capabilities from an innovation perspective to make it as durable as multi-layered filmrdquo
Source Eurostat
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
Circ
ular
mat
eria
l use
rate
()
Circular material use rate
Country - Click on a country to highlight it on the graphAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark
EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIreland
ItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPoland
PortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenUnited Kingdom
Data source Eurostat
CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE
Source Eurostat
GROSS INVESTMENT IN TANGIBLE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOODS AS OF GDP FOR THE EU (28 COUNTRIES)
0109
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0118
0119
0120
201520142013
Gro
ss in
vest
men
t in
tan
gib
le g
oo
ds
-
gro
ss d
om
estic
pro
du
ct (
GD
P)
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
ICIS AT NPE 20187-11 MAY ORANGE COUNTY
CONVENTION CENTRE ORLANDO FLORIDA
Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
We are also pleased to launch our new Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions designed to help you optimise opportunities in a demand-led and price sensitive global market-place
REQUEST A FREE DEMO AT NPE
In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
announced in August 2016 that it had introduced a new range of high density polyethylene (HDPE) that had a guaranteed minimum content of 25 or 50 post-consumer recyclates
Total has a 20000 tonneyear site producing this new range of HDPE and argued in August 2016 that the material the facility manufactured would largely outperform virgin resin in application
Another chemical major Germanyrsquos BASF entered a joint venture called Synvina with Dutch research institute Avantium
Synvina based in Amsterdam produces bio-based plastic polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) for packaging use
EPBP gave Synvinarsquos product interim approval for its recyclability and BASF estimated that this gave the PEF it produced 2 penetration into the bottle market
Furthermore Austria-headquartered Borealis announced in July 2016 its acquisition of German recyclers mtm plastics
Mtm plastics recycles mixed post-consumer plastic waste and Borealis said it is considered one of Europersquos largest producers of polyolefin recyclates
LyondellBasell recently announced the start up of a joint venture with resources management firm SUEZ for plastics recycling the chemical major announced in March 2018
The joint venture will be called Quality Circular Polymers (QCP) Each partner will have a 50 stake and it will be based in Sittard-Geleen the Netherlands
QCP intends to transform used plastic material into virgin-replacement polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) materials
ldquoThe plant is capable of converting consumer waste into 25000 tonnes of PP and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with an objective of 35000 tonnes later in 2018 and 100000 tonnes by 2020rdquo said LyondellBasell
ldquoThe production capacity of the plant will address a growing need for improving the sustainability profile of high-quality plastics in Europerdquo
Even with all these developments Tom Crotty a director at European polymers major INEOS and Borealis CEO Mark Garrett have said that a true circular economy is unrealistic
Persons employed - total employment00 05 10 15 20 25 30
United KingdomSweden
SpainSloveniaSlovakiaRomaniaPortugal
PolandNorway
NetherlandsLithuania
LatviaItaly
HungaryGreece
GermanyFranceFinland
DenmarkCyprusCroatia
BulgariaBelgiumAustria
CIRCULAR ECONOMY RELATED JOBS AS PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN 2015
Source Eurostat
IDENTIFY EVALUATE AND OPTIMISE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES
The ICIS Supply amp Demand Database supports research long-term planning and strategic decision making
With so many changes taking place in the petrochemical trading behaviour it is not easy to anticipate how markets will evolve and the potential implications to a companyrsquos growth strategy or to new business ventures
Covering more than 100 petrochemical commodities across global markets it includes capacity production consumption and trade flow data historically from 1978 and forecast to 2040
REQUEST A FREE TRIAL NOW
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Nonetheless the necessity of adapting to new social and environmental concerns is evidently becoming more relevant to petrochemical companies
ldquoWe see this as a business opportunity for sure We know it is not so easy Itrsquos costlyrdquo said Gunther Stephan head of circular economy solutions at Borealis
ldquoBut I think in combination with our capability as virgin PO [polyolefin] producers it is not a question of either or itrsquos virgin or itrsquos recycling On the contrary it is a hand-in-hand [situation]
ldquoWith our experience on the virgin side we can not only make more available plastics solutions to our customers We can do the same with the recycled material as wellrdquo he added
ldquoWe definitely see plastics waste as an addition and another source of feedstock for producing plasticsrdquo
One hurdle to overcome is the design of packaging as multi-layer products can pose a challenge for recyclers
Borealis said it would tackle this with UAE polyolefin producer Borouge when it presented in October 2016 a monomaterial polyethylene (PE) for flexible packaging
The Austria-headquartered firm explained that flexible
plastic packaging often had a multilateral structure which made recycling it less efficient as well as unattractive
It went on to say that its new product was as efficient as other flex pack structures while recyclate gained from it could even be used in PE film products
ldquoThatrsquos why we Borealis we sit together with the big brand owners to see how we can really change the design to make these products recyclable and I think this is the keyrdquo said Stephan
ldquoIt is not a question per se whether the material itself is recyclable You can recycle polypropylene (PP) 99 pure You can do that but itrsquos just the way you make the packaging out of it which makes it complicated
ldquoJust imagine you have a material which [is] not completely clean and empty toothpaste [or a] ketchup bottle
ldquoThe material is contaminated with food and that takes a lot of effort and cost if you want to get that out during the recycling process and thatrsquos a challenge And thatrsquos what we have to work on with the brand owners
ldquoThe solution may lay in creating mono-layer film and again we have the capabilities from an innovation perspective to make it as durable as multi-layered filmrdquo
Source Eurostat
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
Circ
ular
mat
eria
l use
rate
()
Circular material use rate
Country - Click on a country to highlight it on the graphAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark
EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIreland
ItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPoland
PortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenUnited Kingdom
Data source Eurostat
CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE
Source Eurostat
GROSS INVESTMENT IN TANGIBLE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOODS AS OF GDP FOR THE EU (28 COUNTRIES)
0109
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0118
0119
0120
201520142013
Gro
ss in
vest
men
t in
tan
gib
le g
oo
ds
-
gro
ss d
om
estic
pro
du
ct (
GD
P)
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
ICIS AT NPE 20187-11 MAY ORANGE COUNTY
CONVENTION CENTRE ORLANDO FLORIDA
Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
We are also pleased to launch our new Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions designed to help you optimise opportunities in a demand-led and price sensitive global market-place
REQUEST A FREE DEMO AT NPE
In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Nonetheless the necessity of adapting to new social and environmental concerns is evidently becoming more relevant to petrochemical companies
ldquoWe see this as a business opportunity for sure We know it is not so easy Itrsquos costlyrdquo said Gunther Stephan head of circular economy solutions at Borealis
ldquoBut I think in combination with our capability as virgin PO [polyolefin] producers it is not a question of either or itrsquos virgin or itrsquos recycling On the contrary it is a hand-in-hand [situation]
ldquoWith our experience on the virgin side we can not only make more available plastics solutions to our customers We can do the same with the recycled material as wellrdquo he added
ldquoWe definitely see plastics waste as an addition and another source of feedstock for producing plasticsrdquo
One hurdle to overcome is the design of packaging as multi-layer products can pose a challenge for recyclers
Borealis said it would tackle this with UAE polyolefin producer Borouge when it presented in October 2016 a monomaterial polyethylene (PE) for flexible packaging
The Austria-headquartered firm explained that flexible
plastic packaging often had a multilateral structure which made recycling it less efficient as well as unattractive
It went on to say that its new product was as efficient as other flex pack structures while recyclate gained from it could even be used in PE film products
ldquoThatrsquos why we Borealis we sit together with the big brand owners to see how we can really change the design to make these products recyclable and I think this is the keyrdquo said Stephan
ldquoIt is not a question per se whether the material itself is recyclable You can recycle polypropylene (PP) 99 pure You can do that but itrsquos just the way you make the packaging out of it which makes it complicated
ldquoJust imagine you have a material which [is] not completely clean and empty toothpaste [or a] ketchup bottle
ldquoThe material is contaminated with food and that takes a lot of effort and cost if you want to get that out during the recycling process and thatrsquos a challenge And thatrsquos what we have to work on with the brand owners
ldquoThe solution may lay in creating mono-layer film and again we have the capabilities from an innovation perspective to make it as durable as multi-layered filmrdquo
Source Eurostat
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
Circ
ular
mat
eria
l use
rate
()
Circular material use rate
Country - Click on a country to highlight it on the graphAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmark
EstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIreland
ItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaNetherlandsPoland
PortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenUnited Kingdom
Data source Eurostat
CIRCULAR MATERIAL USE RATE
Source Eurostat
GROSS INVESTMENT IN TANGIBLE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOODS AS OF GDP FOR THE EU (28 COUNTRIES)
0109
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0118
0119
0120
201520142013
Gro
ss in
vest
men
t in
tan
gib
le g
oo
ds
-
gro
ss d
om
estic
pro
du
ct (
GD
P)
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
ICIS AT NPE 20187-11 MAY ORANGE COUNTY
CONVENTION CENTRE ORLANDO FLORIDA
Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
We are also pleased to launch our new Petrochemicals Analytics Solutions designed to help you optimise opportunities in a demand-led and price sensitive global market-place
REQUEST A FREE DEMO AT NPE
In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
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practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
Yet for all this work from petrochemical companies recycling facilitiesrsquo capacities are still dwarfed by virgin production
Borealisrsquo claim for instance that mtm plastics is considered one of the largest producers of polyolefins recyclates is telling
Mtm plastics produces 30000 tonnesyear of recycled material while a world-scale PE unit is at least 10 times that size
The R-PET market also has similar examples of contrasting virgin and recycled supply
In this market in December 2011 Thai PET producer Indorama Ventures announced that it had acquired Irish recycler Wellman International
On its website Indorama labels Wellman International as Europersquos largest PET recycler with a combined R-PET flake capacity in the continent of 70000 tonnesyear
By contrast before it acquired Wellman in June 2011 Indorama announced that it would expand its virgin PET Wloclawek Poland plant by 220000 tonnesyear to 360000 tonnesyear
Therefore more capacity is needed if recycling infrastructure is to match virgin capabilities
Other intricacies that are obstructing heightened use of reused material also need to be addressed
ldquoIt seems that there is enough recycling capacity in [the] EU but in the last months there is not enough recycled material availablerdquo said Paolo Cescutti chief procurement officer at Italian plastic packaging producer AMB
ldquoIt looks as if there is a problem with collection capacity it seems that not all the countries are maximising the potential of collection rates So we are struggling [to source] R-PET on the marketrdquo
Furthermore price is also a key factor INEOSrsquos Tom Crotty believes some proposals regarding the circular economy such as biofeedstocks are too costly
This also is true for those involved directly in purchasing and selling virgin and recycled materials
ldquoAt AMB we developed and we are developing new products for better recyclability or use more recycled material (for instance we use every day around 9m bottles collected recycled and converted into post-consumer [R-PET] flakes)rdquo said Cescutti
ldquoBut we cannot drive the change alone Basically we do what our customers are asking for performance [and] price For example in the last years we used R-PET because of price We are squeezed between suppliers and big customersrdquo
Quality adds another difficulty with UK charity WRAP uncovering in a report published in July 2013 that this was one factor that held back R-PET use in plastic packaging
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Join us at NPE and meet with our account managers editors and product experts at stand S16037 South Building Hall A We will be happy to share the latest news on the plastics industry and answer any questions you might have about the markets
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In his time as a markets reporter at ICIS Pavle Popovic has covered virgin polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) This gave
him insight into the circular economy topic as well as the multiple hurdles and trends within it
Prior to his time at ICIS Pavle had experience in regional newspapers
PAVLE POPOVIC MARKETS REPORTER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo
Copyright 2018 Reed Business Information Ltd ICIS is a member of RBI and is part of RELX Group plc ICIS accepts no liability for commercial decisions based on this content
The non-profit organisation attributed lesser-quality product to the mixed standards of recovered plastic bottle bales alongside frequent discolouration and colour variation of R-PET due to contamination in the reprocessing stage
ldquo[Our] challenge [is to] use recycled or recyclable materials without compromising on quality and performancerdquo Cescutti added
ldquoWe need to be realistic the shift to a more recyclable material is not so easy as it would appear to be in terms of performance and there is still some work to do to be more consistent in terms of quality using recycled materialsrdquo
There is some evidence of firms already working together to achieve circular economy goals
Trade organisations such as Brussels-based EUROPEN an EU lobby group have members that represent the whole value chain from plastic resin producers to brand owners
Petcore another Brussels-based trade association has working groups involving similar firms trying to solve issues such as reprocessing opaque PET packaging
For many further cooperation is the solution to pushing past obstacles towards a circular economy
ldquoMore people are now following protocols and good
ICIS news editors around the world are reporting breaking news stories that impact chemical markets influence commodity prices and affect your daily business decisions
Be the first to find out market moves deals announcements new data and analysis ndash all via one online subscription
Stay up to date with breaking news and analysis on the Circular Economy
REQUEST YOUR FREE ICIS NEWS TRIAL
practice guidance that are available to actually achieve eco designrdquo said Stuart Foster CEO of UK charity RECOUP
ldquoBut yet again it is done on either an item-specific or a company-specific basis We donrsquot see that happening industry wide so we need more companies to move forwardrdquo
ldquoThere has been a change in mind-set across corporates More and more of them are embedding sustainability as one of their pillarsrdquo he added
ldquoSo rather than it being something that sits on their side they are genuinely starting to put it at the core of what they dordquo
The industry is certainly more open to embracing a circular economy The question now is when will the recycling industry catch up with virgin production and have steps taken so far been enough
ldquoI agree that if you look into how much is at the moment recycled in Europe versus [virgin] assets and capabilities there is a ways to go in this journeyrdquo said Borealisrsquo Stephan
ldquoWe are more than happy [that] other virgin polyolefins producers are thinking in the same direction and that is key to solve the problemrdquo he added
ldquoI think we are standing more or less at the beginning of recycling or plastics recycling in Europerdquo