Ineos Styrolution has announced a collaboration with Indaver nv, a European waste management company with large-scale treatment facilities in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, to drive forward chemical recycling for polystyrene (PS) in Europe. The collaboration between the two companies aims at taking advantage of the recyclability of polystyrene to convert post-consumer waste into valuable resources. Separately, Ineos Styrolution is working with Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller towards a commercial-scale PS chemical recycling plant in 2022.

Indaver CEO Paul De Bruycker: “Waste is not an end product. It is a phase in the lifecycle of a material.

The collaboration will benefit from Indaver’s intense testing of their depolymerization and purification process and Indaver’s plans to set up Plastics2Chemicals, a demo-installation in the port of Antwerp, with a recycling capacity of 15,000 tonnes a year being operational in the first half of 2021.

Indaver has a strong track record providing strong solutions to the chemical industry. The close vicinity of Indaver to the Ineos Styrolution site in Antwerp contributes to close collaboration. The initial focus of the collaboration will be to fully align the output of Indaver’s depolymerization process with feedstock specifications of Ineos Styrolution’s polymerization process.

“Waste is not an end product. It is a phase in the lifecycle of a material. With the innovative Plastics2Chemicals project, Indaver develops a sustainable solution for plastic waste by recycling into high-grade materials. We are pleased to work with INEOS Styrolution as one of our preferred partners to use these recycled materials as a valuable alternative for virgin raw materials. This project is an example of the industry’s sustained commitment to help achieve the European objectives in valorizing plastics.” says Indaver CEO Paul De Bruycker.

Rob Buntinx, President EMEA at Ineos Styrolution welcomes the collaboration: “Driving the circular economy for polystyrene forward is at the center of our activities at Ineos Styrolution. We believe that chemical recycling is a key cornerstone contributing to reducing post-consumer waste. I am excited to have found such a strong partner in Europe sharing our objectives and complementing our own skills.”

» Publication Date: 09/07/2019

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