The entry into chemical recycling announced in August 2022 by Germany‘s Duales System Holding (DSD, Cologne; www.gruener-punkt.de – see Plasteurope.com of 12.08.2022) is starting to take shape. As DSD CEO Michael Wiener said in an interview with the German business daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the pyrolysis plant, which is to process up to 70,000 t/y of plastics waste in the first expansion stage, is to be built at a current Germany-based company site in either Hörstel or Eisfeld.

Wiener predicted investment costs “in the triple-digit million range”, which are to be shouldered with partners. The DSD boss is likely referring to not only the chemical industry but also consumer goods manufacturers seeking to secure material for recycling packaging.

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The possible supplier for the base material could be the largest German operator of waste incineration plants, EEW Energy from Waste (Helmstedt; www.eew-energyfromwaste.com). According to the information, EEW plans to sort the plastics fraction out of waste delivered for incineration and reroute it “into chemical recycling in collaboration with DSD”. A quantity of up to 100,000 t/y is currently under discussion.

DSD is breaking new ground by entering into chemical recycling as material fractions from the yellow sack/yellow garbage bin have to date only been mechanically recycled: at the existing production facilities in Hörstel and Eisfeld, the company can produce up to 50,000 t/y of plastics recyclates from used polypropylene and polyethylene packaging.

According to Wiener, the most important argument for chemical recycling are demands for food packaging. “We need new solutions to keep larger volumes in the carbon cycle.”