Circular plastics recycling plant in Port of Antwerp to open in 2024

Waste processor Indaver has almost finished constructing its new plastics recycling plant in the port of Antwerp. The high-tech plant will deliver its first finished product before the end of the year, the company announced on Tuesday.

From 2030, Europe will require food producers to use ten percent recycled material in their packaging. Indaver's 'Plastic2Chemicals' plant will help meet this target, the company says.

From the end of this year, the Plastic2Chemicals plant will recycle polystyrene and polyolefins. Yoghurt pots, meat trays and mushroom trays are made from polystyrene, while crisps bags and films are made from polyolefins. Indaver says that its technology makes it possible to recycle these packaging materials into new raw materials that can be reused in new packaging.

"By recycling plastics on an industrial scale into raw materials of the same quality and purity as their fossil counterparts, we avoid the extraction of raw materials," said CEO Paul De Bruyker on Tuesday. "We can be proud that the first plant to achieve this is in Belgium."

"We can be proud that the first plant to achieve this is in Belgium"

The first line of the plant cost a total of ​ 60 million euros, of which 7.5 million euros comes from the Flemish government. Eventually, Indaver plans to build a second line for the same price and is said to be in talks to build "advanced recycling plants" at other locations in Europe.

The first customers for the end product will come from France, among other countries. Exactly how much more they will pay than for other, inferior plastic products, Indaver cannot say.

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