Circulen

Circulen Family of Sustainable Solutions

It is important to us to help our customers achieve circularity in their use of plastic packaging. To make this possible, we are continuously investing in technologies that span across molecular and mechanical recycling along with the use of renewable feedstocks. We are supporting the reduction of plastic waste through the use of recycled content, and a lower carbon footprint through the use of renewable-based content as compared to feedstock from fossil-based sources. LyondellBasell is now able to offer a new range of recycled and renewable-based polymers under our Circulen polymer brand. This global portfolio is organized into three primary categories; CirculenRecover, CirculenRevive and CirculenRenew.

CirculenRecover

Recovering plastic waste from the environment (both pre and post-consumer waste), CirculenRecover polymers are made from a mechanical recycling process to produce recycled resins. By processing the plastic waste through the shortest recycling loop, a lower carbon footprint can be achieved.
Historically, recycled polymers have been associated with low-end applications and were often noted to be less durable or lower in quality. CirculenRecover polymers offer a consistent, high-quality product containing recycled material that can be used in a number of applications, such as consumer rigid packaging and caps and closures.

• Available in a wide range of colors

• Carefully sorted and cleaned to ensure consistent quality feedstock

• Continually invest and improve in recylate quality. Our latest investment (NIR sorter) will be operational by summer 2021, allowing us to improve our grey quality and extend the applications we serve

Discover how QCP polymers were recently used to create products for brand owners in our latest Sustainability Report. 

To learn more about LyondellBasell’s mechanical recycling investments, click here. 

CirculenRevive

Using advanced (molecular) recycling technology, CirculenRevive polymers are on their way to becoming one of the solutions that can address at scale the challenge of hard-to-recycle plastics. CirculenRevive polymers support taking plastic waste that is not easily recovered by mechanical recycling and converting it into a feedstock to produce new polymers. This allows for larger volumes of plastic waste to return back into the value chain as high-quality polymers while accomplishing a lower CO2 footprint.

• A drop-in solution for all types of applications

• An advanced recycling process is used to convert hard-to-recycle plastic waste into feedstock for the production of CirculenRevive polymers, using a mass balance approach

• CirculenRevive polymers enable our customers to produce new materials for applications that must meet strict regulatory requirements such as food packaging and healthcare items

• Are similar to virgin polymers while offering an environmental value proposition to brand owners around the world

• LyondellBasell’s Wesseling, Germany cracker, Channelview, Texas, USA cracker, and select polymer manufacturing sites are ISCC PLUS certified

LyondellBasell is developing its own advanced recycling technology to improve the ability to transform plastic waste to feedstock for high-end quality polymers while improving the overall CO2 footprint. LyondellBasell established a molecular recycling pilot plant in Ferrara, Italy, which is processing household plastic waste at a rate of 5 to 10 kg an hour.

To learn more about LyondellBasell’s molecular recycling investments, such as MoReTec, click here. 

CirculenRenew

With renewable-based raw materials, such as used cooking oil, as a feedstock, CirculenRenew polymers offer a variety of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) grades that are equivalent to virgin resin quality while reducing fossil feedstock use and helping to reduce CO2 over the product life cycle. These renewable-based polymers offer the same properties in terms of product performance as well as regulatory approvals. CirculenRenew and CirculenRenew products with measured and certified C14 content (or grades) can therefore be applied, with no restrictions, to the same applications as fossil-based equivalents offering the same properties and performance. This makes these new grades a perfect drop-in solution for applications like food packaging and/or high-quality requirement films such as surface protection films.

• CirculenRenew products are sold by issuing mass-balance based Sustainability Declaration Certificates. A third-party certification process provides traceability along the supply chain and verifies that the mass balance accounting aligns to predefined and transparent rules

• CirculenRenew products with measured and certified C14 content products have a measurable renewable-based content which can be determined by C14 analysis. The renewable-based content is measured and stated as a parameter on the Certificate of Analysis (CoA)

• LyondellBasell has select crackers and polymer manufacturing sites in the United States and Europe that are ISCC PLUS certified. A Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) was conducted on the greenhouse gas (GHG) claim of CirculenRenew polymers from Europe