Advanced Recycling

Advanced recycling is a key pillar of our commitment to increasing the use of sustainable feedstocks, contributing towards a circular and carbon neutral economy. It’s complementary to the use of mechanically recycled plastic, as in the INEOS Recycl-IN range of products. 

Mechanical recycling is the most common form of plastic recycling today. However, mechanically recycled polyolefins do not, in general, satisfy the strict regulatory requirements for use in demanding applications such as food contact packaging or medical devices. 

The most promising approach today for these purposes is advanced recycling, technologies that divert difficult to recycle plastic waste from landfill or incineration and convert them into raw materials that do meet the requirements - but attributed from sustainable, recycled plastic waste feedstock, using the mass balance approach (see below).

As well as preventing plastic from ending up in the environment and reducing the use of fossil derived raw materials, the circular re-use of ‘end of life’ plastic also helps to reduce total emissions.

More on pyrolysis and mass balance approach

Pyrolysis technology turns plastic waste into a recycled feedstock called pyrolysis oil that is fed into INEOS’ production process at the beginning of the value chain, reducing the consumption of an equivalent quantity of fossil feedstock.

Using a third-party audited mass balance approach, the share of recycled material is allocated to certain products manufactured in our sites. To ensure transparency, credible claims and the avoidance of ‘double counting’, INEOS has selected the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) and the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) as certification standard providers.  

The recycled attributed products have the same properties as those manufactured from fossil feedstock. Meaning customers can process them as conventional, fossil products and use them in the same way as the products they are used to. Another way that INEOS O&P is developing solutions to offer increasing quantities of our extensive polyolefin grade range as recycled polyolefins.