LyondellBasell, a global leader in the chemical industry, and EEW Energy from Waste, a leading company in thermal waste treatment in Europe recently signed a letter of intent (LOI). The LOI includes exploring a potential long-term strategic partnership to extract and recycle plastics out of incineration waste streams.

This proposed collaboration would potentially include construction of waste pre-sorting facilities at or near EEW incineration plants to remove plastics from waste streams bound for incineration, and investment in advanced sorting facilities to further sort and refine the plastic that has been removed.

LyondellBasell and EEW sign letter of intent for potential advanced waste sorting.

This collaboration supports the new LyondellBasell strategy to invest in advanced sorting infrastructure to produce plastic waste-based feedstocks, grow its Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business, and deliver on its value creation ambitions.

"Collaborations across the value chain are part of our strategy and are increasingly necessary to free up plastic waste from sources that today do not end up in recycling," emphasized Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell executive vice president, Circular and Low Carbon Solutions. "The materials from these sorting facilities would not only support our existing mechanical recycling facilities in the Netherlands and a potential advanced recycling unit in Germany, but also allows us to optimize waste streams and drive additional value."

This collaboration would close the loop on plastics that are today sent for incineration, by sorting them out for use as feedstock in mechanical and advance recycling processes. By removing these materials from the incineration waste stream, the fossil CO2 emissions associated with combusting the materials are also avoided.

"With this cooperation, we are creating a convincing solution for plastic waste for which recycling is still ruled out today," shared Bernard M. Kemper, chief executive officer EEW Energy from Waste. "EEW will first build a sorting facility and sort out plastics to recover them for the raw material cycle."