LyondellBasell says it has produced virgin-quality polymers from plastic waste for the first time at its German site in Wesseling. The raw materials ethylene and propylene are extracted from the plastic waste with the help of a chemical recycling process and further processed into polypropylene and polyethylene. The products are marketed under the "Circulen" brand (see also the news of 13.4.2021). Areas of application would be, for example, food packaging, medical technology components, electrical appliances or travel suitcases. For example, within the framework of a cooperation of the fifty-fifty joint venture between Lyondellbasell and Suez with the suitcase manufacturer Samsonite, a type of the Circulen series is said to be used in the outer shell of the suitcase "Magnum Eco". In this case, the raw materials are plastic waste from Dutch and Belgian households. The inner material of the suitcase is said to consist entirely of recycled PET.

Sources:

• KI (19.5.2021)
• Photo: @ Samsonite