Versalis, Eni's chemical company, and Forever Plast, an Italian company and European leader in the recycling of post-consumer plastics, have signed a new agreement as part of a project aimed at transforming the Porto Marghera industrial site.
The agreement, signed by Versalis CEO Adriano Alfani and Forever Plast CEO Piersandro Arrighini, confirms the acquisition of an exclusive licence to build an advanced mechanical recycling unit for selected post-consumer plastics from waste sorting, in particular polystyrene and high-density polyethylene. The licence acquired from Forever Plast will expand Versalis’ product portfolio from recycled raw materials and will strengthen its leadership in Europe in the mechanical recycling of polystyrene for high value-added applications, including food packaging.
The plant, which is scheduled to go onstream in 2024, will be located in the available areas at the petrochemical site of Porto Marghera and will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year of pre-sorted waste, from which it will produce recycled polymer compounds.
Today’s deal also includes an extension of the contract with Forever Plast, which will ensure the volumes required for the expansion of Versalis' portfolio of recycled products and consolidate its current competitive advantage. In 2020 the company started a collaboration based on which new polystyrene compounds with up to 75% of recycled content, already available on the market under the Versalis Revive® brand, were developed for food packaging, thermal insulation and the electrical sector.
The development of a mechanical recycling hub for Versalis at Porto Marghera started in 2021 with the acquisition of the technology and facilities of Ecoplastic, which uses a pre-treated expanded polystyrene-based raw material as feedstock. All activities related to the project, including the authorization process, are currently underway.
Versalis CEO Adriano Alfani said: “With this agreement we aim to strengthen the transformation of Porto Marghera; a strategic site to achieve our sustainability goals. The strength and innovativeness of this technology is in the potential it offers to recycle plastics for the food packaging market, which poses the greatest challenge in reaching circularity, and consolidates our European leadership in polymer recycling".
