LyondellBasell acquires 50% stake in Dutch recycling firm Stiphout

Chemicals maker LyondellBasell said on Wednesday it has acquired a 50% stake in Dutch recycling company Stiphout Industries B.V., said Reuters.

The company did not disclose financial details of the transaction. Stiphout is involved in the sourcing and processing of plastic household waste into clean flakes of recycled polypropylene and high-density polyethylene materials. It operates a recycling facility located in the Netherlands.

Recycling currently only makes up a tiny fraction of the feedstock for plastics manufacture, and just 9% of plastics are ultimately recycled, according to a Reuters report.

We remind, Lyondell Basell Industries said on Wednesday that it plans to delay its refining business exit from year-end 2023 to no later than the end of the first quarter 2025. The company said in April it would close its Houston refinery by the end of 2023 after two failed attempts to sell the plant, and the closing of Lyondell's five U.S. refineries in the past two years.

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NOVA Chemicals Corp. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) has made a significant expansion of its Circular Solutions business by announcing an investment into developing its first mechanical recycling facility in Connersville, Ind., said Chemengonline.

The facility will process post-consumer plastic films to produce the company’s SYNDIGO recycled polyethylene (rPE) at commercial scale as early as 2025, delivering over 100 million pounds of rPE to the market by 2026. NOVA Chemicals plans to expand its recycling footprint over the next several years to help it reach its industry-leading 2030 ambition of 30 per cent recycled content as a share of its total polyethylene sales.

The company recently announced its 2030 Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership aspirations, including its anticipated investment of between USD2-4 billion by 2030 to expand its sustainable product offerings, decarbonize its assets, and build a state-of-the-art mechanical recycling business while exploring new advanced recycling technologies.

“NOVA Chemicals continues to show clear leadership in reshaping plastics for a better, more sustainable world,” said NOVA Chemicals President and CEO, Roger Kearns. “We are committed to helping our customers achieve their recycled content goals through a variety of business models and we look forward to making more announcements like this as we work to enable a low-carbon, zero plastic waste future.”

We remind, NOVA Chemicals Corporation ("NOVA Chemicals") and Plastic Energy have entered into an agreement to explore the feasibility of developing a pyrolysis-driven advanced recycling facility in the Sarnia, ON, Canada, region. If constructed, the facility would be the largest of its kind in Canada with a potential initial capacity of 66,000 tonnes/y.

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EU27 chemical production is expected to decline by about 8% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with no imminent recovery of chemical demand in Europe, said the agency.

This outlook applies to nearly all segments of the business, while consumer chemicals are more resilient.

This economic outlook follows a weak start to the year. The first 4 months of 2023 have not delivered a strong recovery after the slump of production in Q4 2022. In Q1 2023, production volume already declined by 13,5% in comparison to the previous year.

The capacity utilisation levels of Q1 2023 show levels similar to the ones seen during the first Covid lockdown in 2020. In Q1, capacity utilisation levels are around 75% of normal levels. Demand from customers also showed a negative trend: domestic and export demand remained very weak and chemicals inventories needed to be reduced even further. Indicators for the European chemical industry still point to a further decline in incoming orders.

We remind, A group of refiners plan to file a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's rejection of waivers to exempt oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates which has left some on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has the authority to issue the waivers, on Friday denied exemption requests from 15 small refineries in a move that corn farmers and ethanol producers welcomed.

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The European Union (EU) is working on revising its rules on packaging and packaging waste to align with its goal of creating a low-carbon circular economy, said Packaging-gateway.

Despite previous attempts to enforce stricter regulations, the EU’s packaging oversight has been relatively light touch until now. However, the newly proposed Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is expected to change the landscape significantly.

The upcoming EU parliamentary elections in June 2024 added urgency to the process. PPWR must be agreed upon before then to avoid restarting the legislative process with a new set of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

PPWR aims to achieve packaging waste reduction through multiple measures. Banning certain products will contribute to waste reduction while mandating the minimisation of packaging weight and volume without compromising functionality will also play a role.

However, the reuse/refill regulations are expected to have the greatest impact. The success of these regulations depends on the targets set, the number of times each packaging piece can be reused, the weight comparison between reusable and single-use packaging and potential substitution to or away from plastic.

Overall, the combined measures of PPWR are projected to reduce EU packaging waste by 15% per person by 2040, compared to 2018 levels.

We remind, Nexam Chemicals has achieved a new milestone in its efforts to increase the recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) content in its products. The company specialises in developing solutions that improve the properties and performance of plastics. It invents, develops, manufactures and sells additives to various plastics companies across the globe.

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Sweden-based plastic producer Nexam Chemical has received the first patent for ‘Reactive Recycling’ technology, said Packaging-gateway.

The patent is applicable to businesses in Sweden while the process for corresponding patent protection in other countries is still in progress. Reactive Recycling is a molecular tool that enhances recycling and increases the use of recycled polypropylene. It is said to be faster, simpler, and more cost-effective when compared to several other methods.

The solution, if used after the mechanical recycling process, enables the upcycling of plastic and reduces the use of virgin plastic in the manufacture of new products. Nexam’s CTO Christer Svanberg said: “It is an important step towards a more circular economy and opens up completely new market areas for us.

“The patent proves our innovative ability to constantly develop new solutions so that the manufacturing industry can improve its sustainability.” Nexam is a Nasdaq First North-listed company that invents, produces, and sells additives to the plastics industry across the globe.

The company’s technology helps in replacing metals and other heavier or more expensive materials with plastics in several applications. In May this year, the company received its first production order worth SKr0.5m for the manufacture of thermoformed food packaging.

It has also been partnering with an Israel-based food packaging manufacturer since the beginning of last year to increase the amount of recycled PET in its products.

We remind, Nexam Chemicals has achieved a new milestone in its efforts to increase the recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) content in its products. The company specialises in developing solutions that improve the properties and performance of plastics. It invents, develops, manufactures and sells additives to various plastics companies across the globe.

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