The Path to Leadership: A Circular and Low Carbon Solutions Provider

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / LyondellBasell:

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In the summer of 2019, I took my kids on a trip to Kenya to see the beauty of Africa and the wildlife. Driving in the heart of Africa, we saw little communities burning trash, including plastic bottles. My daughters looked at me and said, "Mommy, you need to do something about this." This moment made me question what else I could do personally to solve this issue and working in the plastic industry gives me the perfect opportunity to be a bigger part of the solution. As such, I am thrilled to lead LyondellBasell's new Circular and Low Carbon Solutions business unit which allows my team to help to address one of the world's biggest challenge: plastic waste. Our aim is to create a sustainable business model that will reshape the plastics value chain and create benefits for customers and society. Building this new business unit gives us clear accountability and a differentiated operating model that requires an entrepreneurial mindset. Our team will focus on addressing challenges in plastic feedstock access and developing scalable technologies to enable us to lead in circularity and low carbon solutions.

At LyondellBasell, we want to be the change leaders, fostering innovative solutions that will transform the market for plastics. This is why we announced last month our decision to move forward with engineering to build a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant at our Wesseling, Germany, site. Using LyondellBasell's proprietary MoReTec technology, this advanced recycling plant is being designed to convert processed mixed plastic waste into feedstock for new plastic production. Our MoReTec technology will help address the challenge of mixed plastic waste, which today mostly ends up in landfills or incineration. MoReTec technology can also address challenging segments like food packaging and healthcare products. This high-yield, differential technology will allow us to convert plastic waste into pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis gas for use in our crackers as feedstock leading to the production of new plastic materials.

Our advanced recycling MoReTec technology is a complementary solution to conventional mechanical recycling, as it enables the conversion of difficult-to-recycle plastic waste into new products. This MoReTec plant is another milestone on our path to becoming the leader in circular and low carbon solutions for our customers.