Ineos Olefins and Polymers joins Nextloopp Project to produce food-grade recycled PP

Chemicals producer Ineos has joined the Nextloopp Project that aims to create food-grade recycled polypropylene made from post-consumer recycled packaging, the company said in a statement Jan. 11.

The company's Olefins and Polymers segment said it would form part of the two-year project to build a demonstration plant in the UK that would produce a nameplate 10,000 mt/year of recycled polypropylene.

The project seeks to validate the food-grade recycled polypropylene manufacturing process and its commercial viability, and at the same time receive the UK's Food Standard Agency and the European equivalent EFSA certifications.

Ineos aims to manufacture mechanically modified food-grade recycled PP to precise converter specifications at its UK Grangemouth facility, blending it with virgin PP, the company said in the statement.

"In the UK alone, we use over 210,000 tonnes of PP in our food packaging every year. It is found in pots, tubs and trays. However, the absence of food-grade recycled polypropylene means that all PP food packaging is currently made from virgin plastics. This isn't unique to the UK but a large global issue that INEOS and its partners are determined to change," it said.

Further upstream in December 2021, Ineos said it planned to launch a pyrolysis-based plastic recycling project at the Grangemouth refinery and chemicals plant alongside London-based Plastic Energy in the first-quarter 2022.

The trial involves producing "food grade" plastic packaging from a synthetic liquid known as Tacoil, or Thermal Anaerobic Conversion Oil, made from discarded food packaging.

Plastic Energy, which is backed by Russian-owned LetterOne, French technology company Axens and UK investment company M&G, has already built two such plants in CEO Carlos Monreal's native Spain.