Transforming waste into valuable raw materials - OMV and Interzero will build Europe's largest chemical recycling sorting plant!
OMV, the Vienna-based energy, fuels and raw materials, chemicals and materials company, has announced an investment decision to build an innovative sorting plant developed by the Interzero* to produce raw materials for chemical recycling.
In total, OMV will invest a sum of more than €170 million in the construction of this state-of-the-art facility in Walldürn in southern Germany. OMV will own 89.9 per cent of the joint venture and Interzero will own 10.1 per cent.
Production at the new plant is expected to start in 2026, with around 120 new jobs created. A groundbreaking ceremony is already scheduled for 20 November 2023, with guests from the world of politics expected to attend.
The sorting plant will be the first of its kind to produce raw materials for OMV's chemical recycling on a large industrial scale. The ReOil® technology, developed and patented by OMV, is a chemical recycling innovation that converts plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled into ash oil - a valuable raw material. The input to the sorting plant essentially comprises a mix of plastics that were previously not recyclable, especially those collected separately from the yellow bag and yellow bin recycling system in Germany.
Interzero operates five light packaging sorting plants in Germany and sorts around a third of Germany's light packaging waste in the form of more than 800,000 tonnes per year. This means that the company currently has the largest sorting capacity in Europe and is a technology leader.
The collaboration between OMV and Interzero will ensure the supply of sustainable and high-quality raw materials for OMV's chemical recycling, helping to close the plastics cycle. The innovative, state-of-the-art sorting plant developed by Interzero will be capable of processing 260,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste per year, providing the raw material for the production of virgin polyolefins. This innovative sorting process will enable the polyolefin-rich fraction to be recovered from the waste stream that currently goes to thermal recycling. In terms of the waste hierarchy, the focus is on plastic waste that is not mechanically recyclable. This will ensure that chemical recycling does not compete with mechanical recycling.
*Acting as ALBA Recycling at the sorting plant site
Read the press release in English HERE