FRANCE – TotalEnergies, a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company announced its plans to build a new mechanical recycling facility to contribute to the circular economy of plastic waste in the country.
The recycling unit will be established at the Grandpuits zero-crude platform site, southeast of Paris, France. This facility is expected to commence operations in 2026.
Once open, the Grandpuits recycling plant will help in the production of approximately 30,000 tonnes of value-added compounds, comprising up to 50% recycled plastic content, annually.
The company says that this recycled polymer will mainly target the packaging market, especially the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industry.
Apart from this new mechanical recycling unit, TotalEnergies is also working to establish a dedicated center to provide technical assistance to its customers.
The center will further support the development of new products, as well as deliver relevant support for the commercialization of the new hybrid compounds range.
TotalEnergies Refining & Chemicals president Bernard Pinatel said: “This investment is great news for the local area and represents another milestone for the zero-crude platform at Grandpuits.
“The investment in this plastic recycling unit is entirely consistent with the company’s ambition to grow the circular economy and will contribute to the objective of reaching one million tons of circular polymers by 2030.
“By developing all these projects at the Grandpuits zero-crude platform, the company can confirm it will maintain 250 jobs at the site, honouring the commitments that it made in September 2020.”
The French company has been working with other companies to promote a circular economy in different parts of the world.
In May, the firm acquired Spain-based mechanical recycler, Iber Resinas, saying that the deal would increase its production of circular polymers in Europe, provide a wider range of recycled products and improve its access to feedstock through Iber Resinas’s network of suppliers.
The move will also increase TotalEnergies’ ability to develop quality products while having the ability to help the growth of Iber Resinas.
Iber Resinas recycles plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene) derived from household and industrial waste in its two plants near Valencia, Spain.
More recently, the firm joined with SABIC and Aramco to convert oil derived from plastic waste into ISCC+certified circular polymers.
The process contributes to combating and solving the challenge of end-of-life plastics as it allows the use of non-sorted plastics which are hard to recycle mechanically.
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