Chemical company SABIC and Plastic Energy have partnered with Siemer and Landbell to sort and pre-treat mixed and used post-consumer plastic for recycling at their advanced recycling unit in Geleen, the Netherlands. Siemer's sorting plant in Germany will supply pre-sorted and treated plastic waste to SABIC and Plastic Energy. The plant is capable of separating dirt and impurities from plastic packaging waste and has an input capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year. The plastic waste will be converted into pyrolysis oil and used as feedstock to produce circular polymers. The collaboration aims to drive the development of a circular economy for plastics.
Geleen – In another significant contribution towards the development of a circular economy for plastics, SABIC and Plastic Energy have established a collaboration with Siemer and Landbell for sorting and pre-treatment of mixed and used post-consumer plastic to be processed in their advanced recycling unit in Geleen, The Netherlands which is in the final stages of construction.
In this collaboration, SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals, and partner Plastic Energy, a pioneer in chemical plastics recycling, will receive pre-sorted and treated plastic waste supply from Siemer’s newly built sorting plant in Vechta, Lower Saxony, Germany. The Siemer plant is supplied by Landbell AG.
Innovative plant significantly increases sorting residues for recycling
Siemer’s unique processing plant in Vechta is a former sorting plant for light packaging that has been overhauled and redesigned for the pioneering purpose of recovering recyclable materials from previously non-recyclable or hard-to-recyclable post-consumer plastic waste. Following the overhaul, it now re-sorts the fraction of plastic packaging waste classified as low-grade using newly combined technologies and prepares it for advanced recycling.
The sorting plant, is the first of its kind that can separate dirt, foreign matter and impurities from the remaining plastic fractions and has an input capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year.
Once reprocessed, the plastic waste will be delivered to SABIC and Plastic Energy advanced recycling unit, where its will be converted into pyrolysis oil, called TACOIL™, using Plastics Energy’s advanced recycling technology. The TACOIL™ will then be treated in a newly built SABIC hydrotreater plant, to be subsequently used as alternative feedstock by SABIC to produce their flagship certified circular polymers, part of the company’s TRUCIRCLE™ portfolio.
Collaboration driving the path to circularity
Advanced recycling is an essential and complementary solution to traditional recycling processes and can take typically hard to recycle types of plastic waste. Factors such as access to high quality volumes of used plastics are crucial for advanced recycling to be implemented globally.
SABIC, Plastic Energy, Siemer and Landbell are among the first players in the circular economy to bring together feedstock streams, technology and know-how to scale-up advanced recycling operations. In doing so, the collaboration is creating the conditions toward a moreclosed loop model for post-consumer plastic.
“We have created a unique collaboration from different points in the value chain,” says Rutger Bosch, Global Circular Economy Leader at SABIC. “We have demonstrated how to reinvent our business model by bringing together experienced operational partners that historically would not have worked together. Siemer convinced us with its quick action and rapid progress in the technical implementation. And Landbell secures the future expansion of our plant operations. With this new approach, we hope to show that closed loop projects have the potential to capture the value and bring back used plastic into new material streams”
“Through the use of our advanced recycling technology, we are making great strides in building the circular economy in the Netherlands, and globally,” says Carlos Monreal, Founder and CEO of Plastic Energy. “This collaboration with Siemer and Landbell is important to the success of our joint recycling plant with SABIC in Geleen, providing optimal feedstock to be used in our recycling process.”
“By optimally combining our capabilities, we ensure progress in the resource-saving use of plastics,” says Manfred Bruns, Managing Director of A. Siemer – Entsorgungs GmbH. “We are on the way to one hundred percent recycling. Strategic collaborations like this one are necessary to drive this forward-looking development of the circular economy. As a one-hundred-year-old family business, we are proud to contribute a small but fundamental part to this modern process.”
Uwe Echteler, member of the board of Landbell and COO of the DACH region, focuses on offering customer-specific recycling options and optimising the cycle for chemical re-cycling up to a closed product loop: “As a ‘first mover’, we are faced with the exciting task of finding the optimal composition of material streams for pyrolysis. We want to make a real contribution to resource conservation and with this project we can gain the necessary insights and offer initial product documentation.”
Both the planning and development of the processing plant in Vechta and the strategic linking of the players involved to create an economically attractive and resource-saving cycle were carried out by the operational consultancy Source One. In this loop, which is the precursor to a closed product loop, Source One was able to contribute its three core competences of consultancy, development and procurement to create added value for each individual company in the new strategic collaboration.
“We are very proud to have brought together the players involved and connected them through the development of a technological bridge,” says Kai Hoyer, Managing Director of Source One. “It was exciting to put a new technical concept on top of the conditions of an old sorting plant. The particular challenge was the short time frame in which we upgraded the existing plant. Now we look forward to further advancing the circular economy with similarly effective and sustainable solutions.”
ABOUT SIEMER
Siemer – Entsorgungs GmbH has been collecting residual and recyclable waste in the district of Vechta for more than one hundred years. The Lower Saxon family business was founded in 1920 by August Siemer and today operates 70 operational vehicles. In addition to waste disposal and customised waste technology concepts, the services of the third generation also include area and street cleaning as well as sink cleaning, container services and municipal waste collection. A haulage company, the innovative sorting plant and the recyclables trade complete Siemer’s modern portfolio of waste disposal and cleanliness services. The traditional company employs around 90 people in the region. Find out more at www.siemer-vechta.de.
ABOUT LANDBELL
Landbell Group is an international provider of comprehensive take-back, consulting and software solutions for environmental and chemical compliance. Landbell was founded in 1995 as a waste management company in Germany and has since developed into a glob-al service provider. Today, Landbell operates take-back/collection systems for various waste streams in 13 countries worldwide, supports over 38,000 customers in more than 60 countries in fulfilling extended producer responsibility and collected over 760,000 tonnes of batteries, e-waste and packaging in 2020. Landbell AG, specifically in Germany, operates a certified and independent dual system for manufacturers and retailers to meet their legal requirements. Visit www.landbell-group.com.
ABOUT SOURCE ONE
Source One is an operational consulting company in environmental, resource and sus-tainability issues. With a holistic approach, innovative technologies and measurable re-sults, Source One closes material cycles – with maximum ecological and economic effi-ciency. Source One thus acts as a global interface between the players along the entire value chain of the circular economy. Since 2019, Source One has been successfully im-plementing circular economy solutions, waste management and recycling projects for brand manufacturers, producers, retailers, municipalities, governments and consumers in more than 20 countries. Take a look at www.s-one.de.