Recycling & Waste Management
US-Dutch Firm Begins Work on Massive German Plastics Recycling Plant
Lyondell-Basell is investing a nine-figure sum in a new milestone facility in the western German town Wesseling near Cologne.
Sep 20, 2024
The 2.7-square-kilometer plant will be the first facility of that scale for chemically recycling plastics. Difficult to recover elements, which previously had to be burned, can now be extracted from plastic waste in the form of pyrolysis oil and gas, and put to good use. The facility will have an annual capacity of 50,000 tons.
Lyondell-Basell is the world’s third largest chemicals company in terms of turnover. It has been active in Wesseling for 70 years.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the groundbreaking ceremony praising the project as part of Germany’s drive to establish circular economies. According to a just published study by consultants Roland Berger, Germany leads the world in circular-economy technologies.
