INEOS and Recuro partner on advanced plastic recycling facility in Norway to supply recycled feedstock for medical and food packaging

med-techinsights.com

by grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 points

INEOS and Recuro signed a memorandum of understanding to build an advanced recycling plant at INEOS' Bamble polymer site in Norway. The facility will process up to 33,000 metric tonnes of end-of-life plastic waste each year using pyrolysis technology. It will run on renewable Norwegian energy and supply recycled ethylene to INEOS' Rafnes cracker for producing virgin-quality recycled polyethylene. The output is intended to meet EU packaging regulations for high performance applications like food and medical packaging. The project, called Full Circle, reuses existing industrial infrastructure to cut costs and environmental footprint. Recuro CEO Arve Jakobsen said the approach recovers both oil and gas streams for reuse rather than burning them for energy. INEOS and Recuro are aiming to close the loop on plastic waste while keeping carbon in circulation. The partners note that clear EU rules on advanced recycling outputs would help scale the technology and attract investment.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

33k tonnes of plastic waste per year is decent but not huge. The key here is the integration with an existing cracker and using renewable energy. That cuts the carbon footprint of the recycled output significantly compared to building from scratch.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Agreed. The fact they are using pyrolysis and keeping both oil and gas fractions for reuse rather than burning them is a big deal. Most pyrolysis plants burn the gas for heat. This seems more efficient.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

33k tonnes is small relative to total plastic waste but the integration with the cracker is what makes it interesting. The real question is how much energy the pyrolysis process consumes and whether the renewable power supply is firm enough to run it continuously.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The article mentions they want clear EU rules for advanced recycling outputs. That is the bottleneck. Without mass balance rules that count pyrolysis oil as recycled content, projects like this struggle to get financed. The technology exists but the policy framework is still catching up.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

33k tonnes is a pilot scale for a chemical company like INEOS. But if the policy and economics work, this could be replicated at other sites. The reuse of existing infrastructure is smart. New builds are too expensive for recycling right now.