TotalEnergies, Plastic Energy, and Jindal Films look to chemical recycling of post-consumer plastic to create virgin-quality polymers for conversion into packaging and label films.

PlasticsToday Staff

July 12, 2021

2 Min Read
TotalEnergies, Plastic Energy, and Jindal Films logos
Image: TotalEnergies

A value-chain collaboration that includes Paris-based energy company TotalEnergies, packaging film converter Jindal Films, and chemical recycling leader Plastic Energy aims to close the loop on recycling plastic waste into new plastic packaging.

In partnership with London-headquartered Plastic Energy, TotalEnergies plans to start up an advanced plastics recycling plant at its Grandpuits, France, site. TotalEnergies (formerly known as Total) announced previously that it would stop refining crude oil at that site and transition to a zero-crude platform.

The new Grandpuits operation, which TotalEnergies characterizes as France’s first chemical recycling plant, will use Plastic Energy’s pyrolysis technique to convert plastic waste into liquid Tacoil feedstock. The Tacoil will be used to produce virgin-quality polymers at multiple TotalEnergies petrochemical sites in Europe that have been certified to International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus.

These products, to be marketed as Certified Circular Polymers, will follow the ISCC Plus scheme to ensure traceability in the value chain via mass balance allocation. As part of the emerging circular economy for plastics, the polymers will be used to make food packaging and labels for demanding applications that include snacks, biscuits, chocolate bars, dry foods, and pet food.

Jindal Films will convert the Tacoil-based polymers into certified sustainable biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films made from post-consumer waste. The characteristics and performance properties of the new films will be identical to those of films currently used for food packaging and labeling, which is expected to speed their adoption. The films will be part of a group of sustainable and recyclable films from Jindal Films that features easier-to-recycle mono-material laminates, both polyethylene and polypropylene. Jindal Films has two regional headquarters locations: LaGrange, GA, and Windhof, Luxembourg.

“This announcement with Jindal Films fully supports our ambition to produce 30% of recycled and renewable polymers by 2030, as it makes it possible to address circularity commitments pledged by many brand owners for highly technical flexible food packaging and labels,” said Valérie Goff, TotalEnergies Senior Vice President, Polymers, in a prepared statement.

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