Currently, the only option for mixed plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled is usually incineration. To keep these raw materials in circulation, recycling companies, the petrochemical industry and plastics manufacturers are working together to expand chemical recycling. This has potential: "Chemical recycling can handle material flows that cannot be mechanically recycled - and thus save resources and avoid incineration," says Dr Markus Hiebel, Head of Sustainability and Participation at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environment, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT.

Focus on mixed plastics

Each year, Interzero processes more than 800,000 tonnes of yellow bag and yellow bin lightweight packaging. Around half of this is mechanically recycled and used, for example, to produce regranulates for the plastics industry. A quarter is made up of sorting residues, including 'inappropriate waste', which should not go into the yellow bin. The remaining 25 per cent is made up of mixed plastics that cannot be clearly attributed to the sorting fraction and which previously went to thermal recycling. Interzero has developed a new sorting process just for this mix of materials. "While our previous sorting systems targeted monomaterials such as PE and PP, we are using the new technology to generate plastic streams that are precisely tailored to the chemical recycling processes of our partners," explains Dr Richard von Goetze, director of chemical recycling at Interzero.

Production in Walldürn planned to start in 2026.

In November 2023, construction work began in Walldürn, Baden-Württemberg, on the creation of Europe's largest sorting plant for the production of raw materials for chemical recycling - the joint venture between Interzero and OMV. With this project, the partners are creating around 120 new jobs - and new prospects for a circular economy. Once production begins in 2026, the plant will process up to 260,000 tonnes of mixed used plastics per year. "We assume that we will be able to recover such large volumes for chemical recycling," says Dr Richard von Goetze. "This will enable our partner companies to produce new food-grade plastics."

New plastics from non-recyclable plastic waste

Take OMV, for example: the company will process mixed plastics from a common sorting plant in Walldürn at its ReOil® plant, where these mixed plastics are decomposed back into their basic components using pyrolysis. The pilot plant can process 100 kilograms of used plastics into 100 litres of pyrolysis oil per hour. Another plant with a capacity of 16,000 tonnes per year is currently under construction at the OMV plant in Schwechat (Lower Austria). The next step is the development of an industrial-scale ReOil® plant with a planned capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes per year. The recovered raw materials will be used to produce plastics for a wide range of applications. The plastics will be ISCC PLUS (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) certified, which provides traceability throughout the supply chain and ensures that the value chain meets all environmental and social standards.

Sustainable cooperation with Eastman

Different process, same goal: together with the US company Eastman, Interzero is opening up a new way of recycling difficult-to-recycle PET packaging. The company's future molecular recycling plant in France should be able to process more than 200,000 tonnes of PET waste per year. "Interzero and Eastman are committed to reducing plastic waste and building a closed loop," says Reinier de Graaf, director of raw material strategy at Eastman. "We are pleased to be working closely with Interzero to source some of the raw materials needed for our plant." Eastman's polyester processing technology enables mixed PET waste to be broken down into monomers and then recombined into a high-quality material.

Due to the efficiency of the integrated plant and the renewable energy sources available in France, the plant is expected to operate with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional petroleum-based processes. The concept is also well received by brand manufacturers - Eastman already produces on a large scale in the US and sells its recycled materials worldwide: Eastman's recycled plastics are processed into reusable bottles, household appliances, consumer electronics and cosmetics packaging, among others. The French project is also receiving strong support from global brands, most notably LVMH Beauty, The Estée Lauder Companies, Clarins, Procter & Gamble, L'Oreal and Danone, which have signed letters of intent for multi-year supply agreements.

Next steps

Working together to close the loop and secure valuable raw materials: The industry provides new technologies and opportunities, but the further expansion of chemical recycling will also depend on the political framework conditions - for example recognition in the Packaging Act. Dr Axel Schweitzer, CEO and shareholder of Interzero, said at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the new plant in Walldürn: "I am convinced that with chemical recycling, the recycling rate in Germany can and will increase significantly in the future. This will bring us a big step closer to our vision of a world without waste."