Companies partner to develop chemical recycling for plastics in France

International energy company Total, plastic recycling technology provider Recycling Technologies and global brands Mars and Nestlé have joined forces to develop a chemical recycling industry for plastics in France. The partnership is part of Citeo’s call for projects to promote eco-design and recycling and recovery projects for plastic and paper in that country.

The partners will examine the technical and economic feasibility of recycling complex plastics, such as small, flexible and multilayered food-grade packaging. These products are currently considered non-recyclable and are either incinerated or disposed of in landfills.

“This ambitious project meets Citeo’s goal of finding end-to-end solutions for all packaging,” says Jean Hornain, chief executive officer of Paris-based Citeo, an organization that was created by businesses to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging. “New recycling technologies, such as chemical recycling, will take performance to the next level and accelerate the circular economy for postconsumer plastic waste, especially when it is complex. Our initiative will be a key driver to deliver short- and medium-term solutions.”

“By addressing the circular economy challenges of food-grade plastics, chemical recycling is a perfect addition to our existing mechanical recycling activities,” says Bernard Pinatel, president, refining and chemicals, at Total, headquartered in Paris. “The project announced today to develop an industrial sector involving major players in the packaging value chain is an important step in our ambition to produce 30 percent recycled polymers by 2030.”

“We are delighted to be the technology provider for this project,” says Elena Parisi, sales and marketing director at U.K.-based Recycling Technologies. “This cross-sector partnership is a great example of the industry working together to bring about the changes necessary to make plastic sustainable. We must carve out a clear pathway that others in the value chain will follow to boost plastic recycling capacity in France and elsewhere.”

London-based Kate Wylie, global vice president of sustainability at Mars Inc., with global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, says, “We are delighted to join this cross-value-chain consortium to help identify the right system to recycle flexible plastic packaging. In line with Mars’s Circular Packaging Plan, including the goal for 100 percent plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025, we plan to reduce unnecessary packaging, redesign for circularity and invest to close the loop. Identifying and investing in the right waste management systems is a critical part of the solution to address the plastic waste problem. We support this new pyrolysis project in France to help identify circular systems for postconsumer plastic packaging and consequently increase the scale of recycling across Europe.”

“We are aiming for 100 percent of our packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2025. Combining our expertise in a collective project to improve recycling is something we need to do to tackle the global plastic issue,” says Mathieu Tuau, head of packaging and sustainability at Nestlé France, Noisiel, France.