Chemical recycling project in Belgium canceled

The start-up company APPI has abandoned its plans to set up a pyrolysis plant in the port of Ostend.
Advanced Plastic Purification International (APPI), a Belgian-Dutch start-up company that, according to media reports, has already ceased operations as of November 27, 2024, will therefore not build the pyrolysis plant it had planned in the port of Ostend. The plant was designed to process 500,000 tons of plastic waste per year and would have created 110 jobs in the region. The project was well advanced with final construction plans and ongoing environmental approvals, port chief Dirk Declerck told Belgian media. But a wave of cheap new plastics from China has fundamentally undermined the project's business model, according to the CEO of the Port of Ostend. “If your recycled product is more expensive than cheap Chinese plastics, the business model collapses. This is also the case here,” he explained, confirming that the planned investments will no longer be made for this reason.
Sources:
- Brussels Times (7.1.2025)
- Innovation Origins (10.1.2025)
- Kunststoffweb (27.1.2025)
- Photo: © Hafen Ostende