The first advanced plastics recycling plant in France has been started up by TotalEnergies in cooperation with Plastic Energy. The TotalEnergies Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling (TEPEAR) facility is located at the TotalEnergies’ site in Grandpuits, southeast of Paris.
With a capacity of 15 000 tonne per year, the recycling plant will transform hard-to-recycle plastic waste from French households into synthetic oil, which will be used as a petrochemical feedstock, replacing fossil fuels. During 2023 TotalEnergies signed an agreement with two French companies to secure supplies of plastic waste.
The recycling facility is based on proprietary technology developed by Plastic Energy. The technology uses a pyrolysis process which allows the conversion of household plastic waste, which would otherwise be sent to landfill or incinerated, into a synthetic oil which the partners call TACOIL. This product is then used as a feedstock by TotalEnergies’ petrochemical sites. The materials produced from this feedstock can be used in a range of applications from food-contact packaging, through to medical grade materials.
Plastic Energy adds that its technology has already been tested on an industrial scale at its site in Spain. In addition, the technology is designed to be integrated directly into existing petrochemical production facilities. Plastic Energy said that this integration is important as “less than 30% of the roughly 32 million tonnes of plastic waste generated in Europe each year is currently recycled.”
Senior vice president, renewables, fuels and chemicals at TotalEnergies, Valérie Goff, said: “The start-up of the first advanced plastics recycling plant in France is an important milestone in the conversion of our Grandpuits site into a zero-crude complex.”
This development by TotalEnergies and Plastic Energy comes as the European Union looks to put in place a Circular Economy Act, due for adoption during 2026. The Act focuses on establishing a single market for secondary raw materials, increasing the supply of high-quality recycled materials and stimulating demand for these materials in the EU.
Last year the European Commission opened a consultation on implementing the Circular Economy Act. Submitting its recommendations, European chemical industry body, Cefic, said that the chemical industry faces challenges in scaling up circularity. “Circular economy projects face significant financial and regulatory barriers, including lack of demand for circular products, competitiveness concerns, and absence of enabling frameworks.”
Further reading:
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Sony and chemical producers establish global renewable plastic supply chain
- Chemical recycling: BASF turns plastic waste and biomass into feedstock
- Plastic recycling rates are stubbornly low: Here's what's going wrong
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