Circular materials for coffee capsules

Wednesday, 15 June 2022  MACPLAS - Technology

CirculenRevive polymers developed by LyondelBasell are made using an advanced recycling process to convert plastic waste into feedstock, which is used to produce new polymers, using a mass balance approach. With the support of Greiner Packaging, these polymers will be used to make coffee capsules for Nestlé’s Nescafé Dolce Gusto. This collaboration aims to help advance a circular economy for plastic.

These polymers meet the strict requirements of the food industry. Both, LyondellBasell and Greiner Packaging sites involved are Iscc Plus certified. This well-known global certification provides traceability along the supply chain. With the mass balance method, the company tracks how much advanced recycled material goes into the production process of its CirculenRevive products and can attribute the recycled content to the final polymer via a Sustainability Declaration.

“We are extremely pleased that we can support our customer Greiner Packaging and ultimately Nestlé with a circular economy solution from our recently launched Circulen product family,” said Richard Roudeix, LyondellBasell Senior Vice President of Olefins and Polyolefins for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. “CirculenRevive polymers help to address at scale the challenge of hard-to-recycle plastics. The advanced recycling technology can utilize used mixed plastic, which allows for larger volumes of plastic waste to return back into the value chain that would otherwise be destined for energy recovery or landfill. At the same time, these polymers have the same characteristics and high quality as fossil-based materials. Ultimately, LyondellBasell aims to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030.”

“We are very happy to realize this forward-looking project. It is our goal to use as much recycled material for our packaging as possible and we believe that we need to explore every opportunity to reach this goal and make our packaging more sustainable. Therefore, we are very pleased to be part of this project which also demonstrates the importance of the whole value chain working closely together. With cooperations like this we are confident that, in the near future, we will succeed in realizing a circular economy, together as an industry,” added Manfred Stanek, CEO of Greiner Packaging.