Braskem, the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, has become the latest entrant to join Cyclyx as a founding member.
In Dec. 2020, ExxonMobil in partnership with Agilyx’ Feedstock management company, Cyclyx International with the aim of developing ways to aggregate and recycle plastic waste, thereby providing innovative recycling solutions. Cyclyx International LLC is a post-use plastic feedstock management company working alongside various industry leaders in order to build advanced recycling solutions for all types of post-use plastics.
By partnering with Cyclyx, Braskem will have access to the former’s innovative technologies such as chemical characterization of plastics and predictive modelling of feedstocks to devise manufacturing pathways, supply chain management and custom feedstock recipes. Leveraging the innovations would enable Braskem to source plastic feedstocks suited to all existing and advanced recycling pathways.
The recent announcement comes in the backdrop of continued talks between Braskem and Agilyx, the parent company of Cyclyx regarding the feasibility of an advanced recycling project in North America involving production of circular Polypropylene (PP) resins from difficult-to-recycle mixed waste plastic.
The main aim behind the formation of Cyclyx is to raise the recyclability of plastics which currently stands at 10% to around 90%. The company wants to achieve this ambitious goal by utilizing its expertise in understanding the chemicals composition of waste plastics to improve the overall supply chain to maximize recyclability of waste plastics in collaboration with various industry participants. Cyclyx’s feedstock management systems for the recycling were granted certification under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus (ISCC PLUS) process, earlier this month.
Geoffrey Inch, Braskem’s Sustainability and Circular Economy Director has been appointed to the Executive Advisory Board of Cyclyx. In the company’s latest press release, the personnel mentioned, “Braskem has a long history in the use of sustainable feedstock and is committed to working collaboratively to increase the circularity of plastics. We believe Cyclyx addresses some of the key challenges that will allow advanced recycling to scale, which is an important step in the development of certified circular Polypropylene for our clients”.
Braskem, the largest Polypropylene (PP) producer in North America followed suit after other founding members joined earlier. ExxonMobil joined in February 2021, whereas American Styrenics (AmSty), the largest polystyrene producer in the Americas, joined in for availing recyclable feedstocks in March this year.
