The company expects operations to begin at its Texas plant by the end of 2022.

ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Texas, has announced plans to build its first large-scale postuse plastic advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas. The company says it expects to begin operations at the facility by the end of 2022.

ExxonMobil reports that it wants to use this facility to help address the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. According to a news release from ExxonMobil, a smaller, temporary facility already operates and is producing commercial volumes of certified circular polymers that will be marketed by the end of this year.

“We’ve proven our proprietary advanced recycling technology in Baytown, and we’re scaling up operations to supply certified circular polymers by year-end,” says Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Co. “Availability of reliable advanced recycling capacity will play an important role in helping address plastic waste in the environment, and we are evaluating wide-scale deployment in other locations around the world.” 

The company has performed an initial trial of its proprietary process for converting plastic scrap into raw materials. According to ExxonMobil, the trial recycled more than 1,000 metric tons of plastic scrap and has demonstrated the capability of processing 50 metric tons per day.

Upon completion of the large-scale facility, the operation will have the capacity to recycle 30,000 metric tons of plastic scrap per year. ExxonMobil says it anticipates that operational capacity could be expanded if policy and regulations that recognize the lifecycle benefits of advanced recycling are implemented for residential and industrial plastic scrap collection and sorting systems.

The company also plans to build about 500,000 metric tons of advanced recycling capacity globally over the next five years. In Europe, the company is collaborating with Plastic Energy on an advanced recycling plant in Notre Dame de Gravechon, France, which is expected to process 25,000 metric tons of plastic scrap per year when it starts in 2023, with the potential for further expansion to 33,000 metric tons of annual capacity. The company also is assessing sites in the Netherlands, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Canada and Singapore.

ExxonMobil also has formed a joint venture with Agilyx Corp., Cyclyx International LLC, focused on developing solutions for aggregating and preprocessing large volumes of plastic scrap that can be converted into feedstocks for products. The company reports that Cyclyx will help to supply its advanced recycling projects.

This is Fenix Parts’ third location in Florida.

Fenix Parts, a recycler and reseller of automotive parts in Hurst, Texas, has acquired the assets of University Auto Recyclers in Pensacola, Florida.

“We are excited for our team to join Fenix Parts,” says Bryan Minchew, owner of University Auto Recyclers. “The growth opportunity for employees is endless, and we will be able to serve our customers with even more parts. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.” 

University Auto Recyclers is a full-service automotive recycling facility that provides service in the Florida panhandle, along with Alabama and Mississippi.

According to a news release from Fenix, this acquisition represents the company’s third location in Florida and is an important addition to its Southeast supply chain and distribution network.

“This acquisition expands Fenix Parts’ Southeast footprint, adding significant production capacity and increasing our total addressable market,” says Bill Stevens, CEO of Fenix Parts.

Fenix Parts says it continues to pursue opportunities that align with its strategic development plans. Current auto recycling owners interested in learning more about Fenix’s acquisition process can email info@fenixparts.com.

The mill produces about 600,000 metric tons per year of recycled containerboard.

Smurfit Kappa Group plc, a large integrated manufacturer of paper-based packaging products with operations in Europe and the Americas, has acquired Verzuolo, a 600,000-metric-tons-per-year recycled containerboard mill in northern Italy that is owned by Burgo Group, for about 360 million euros (about $415 million).

According to a news release from Smurfit Kappa Group, a machine in the Verzuolo mill was converted to produce recycled containerboard in 2019. The company says this acquisition is complementary with its existing operations and is strategically located close to the port of Savona, Italy.

“We are pleased to complete this acquisition ahead of schedule,” says Tony Smurfit, Smurfit Kappa Group CEO. “Verzuolo brings a highly experienced and skilled team providing additional security of supply for [Smurfit Kappa's] customers. As we continue to invest in our corrugated facilities, Verzuolo strengthens the group’s integrated model and supports our sustainability ambitions.”

The product is the result of a collaboration between SABIC and the company.

Microsoft has debuted its Ocean Plastic Mouse, the exterior shell of which contains 20 percent mechanically recycled ocean plastic. The new product is the result of the tech company’s collaboration with SABIC, a global leader in the chemical industry.

Mahari Tjahjadi, Electrical and Electronic Solutions segment leader at SABIC, who is based in Shanghai for the leading petrochemical company, says Microsoft was interested in using ocean plastics. He adds that Microsoft liked the immediate impact of recovering plastic from the ocean for this first effort, but the company also is looking at using ocean-bound plastics as well as traditional postconsumer recycled plastics in its products.

SABIC says ocean plastic has been certified by a third party as recovered from any ocean or ocean-feeding waterways or where it washed ashore from these locations.

According to SABIC, Microsoft began the project with the objective of creating a plastic resin made from at least 10 percent mechanically recycled ocean plastic as part of its commitment to achieve zero waste by 2030. The Microsoft design team collaborated with technologists at SABIC to provide feedback on prototypes made with the new resin. This effort resulted in several rounds of reformulation prior to arriving at a final version that exceeded Microsoft’s initial goal to instead contain 20 percent recycled ocean plastic by weight in its external casing, or “shell.”

SABIC is providing a new Xenoy resin for Microsoft’s use that contains 20 percent ocean plastic as part of SABIC’s Trucircle portfolio and services. Based on a resin grade comprised of 20 percent recycled content, for every 1,000 tons of product containing recycled ocean-plastic Xenoy PC/PET (polycarbonate/polyethylene terephthalate) compound, an equivalent of 24 million single-use 0.5-liter PET water bottles is removed from the ocean, ocean-feeding waterways or ocean-adjacent shores, SABIC says.

Tjahjadi says SABIC needed to ensure that suppliers of the ocean plastic were able to provide batch-to-batch consistency in the volume that the project necessitates. “Consistency is critical,” he adds, and SABIC had to put in “quite a bit of an effort” to ensure this.

The company’s suppliers of the ocean plastics are based in Asian countries, he says, and SABIC is producing the plastic for the project in China.

With the project, Tjahjadi says, SABIC and Microsoft were looking to optimize the amount of recycled content in the mouse while consistently achieving the properties required in the application.

Frank Kuijpers, SABIC general manager Corporate Sustainability, says, “With the application and volumes associated with that, [mechanical recycling] seemed to be an ideal combination.”

“We found a sweet spot where we can do this via mechanical recycling,” Tjajadi adds.

He says chemical recycling also is of interest to Microsoft, which is exploring other projects with SABIC.

SABIC’s Xenoy resins combine PC with a semicrystalline resin, such as PET, Tjajadi says. The resins in the Xenoy resin line are suitable for use in applications that require chemical resistance, including health care, automotive and home appliances in addition to personal electronics.  

Thajadi says SABIC and Microsoft are exploring closed-loop recycling options for the company’s products. “The thought is very much in their mind and in ours,” he says, noting that logistics surrounding collection are a primary challenge.

SABIC says its project with Microsoft provides a blueprint to demonstrate to the broader industry sector that recycling and reusing ocean plastics is achievable when value chain partners use their knowledge and expertise and work together.

Abdullah Al-Otaibi, ETP & Market Solution General Manager at SABIC, says, “Our collaboration with Microsoft represents an exciting development in recycling and reusing ocean plastic to create high-quality consumer electronic products that meet Microsoft’s high-performance expectations while also playing a role in cleaning up the world’s oceans.”

Kuijpers says, “This addition to our Trucircle portfolio is another demonstration of SABIC’s collaboration with the value chain to help create new value from used plastics. By creating more sustainable materials and forging new collaborations, we are setting an example for the industry in how we can transform difficult-to-recycle materials such as ocean plastic into innovative products that can meet the high-quality demands of our customers.”

“As part of our commitment to the reduction of waste, we set out to prove the viability of recycled ocean plastic as a material for use in consumer electronics,” says Donna Warton, vice president of Supply Chain and Sustainability at Microsoft, Redmond, Washington. “The Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse, with an outer shell made with 20 percent recycled ocean plastic, is the first consumer electronics product made with this Xenoy resin. We are proud of the collaboration with SABIC that created this new resin from a challenging material that would otherwise remain in the ocean as waste. We hope that this first step on recycled ocean plastic will spur further action in our industry and are excited for customers to be able to experience the product.”

The collaboration builds on SABIC’s announcement in April that it had developed of ocean-bound plastics. These ocean and ocean-bound materials form part of SABIC’s Trucircle portfolio of products and services, including design for recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from recycling, certified renewables products from bio-based feedstock and closed-loop initiatives to recycle plastic back into high-quality applications and help prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste.

German company says its Tomorrow Metals program will entail “expanding its recycling capacities.”

Hamburg, Germany-based Aurubis AG used the London Metal Exchange (LME) Week event in that city to unveil its new “Tomorrow Metals by Aurubis” program, which it says emphasizes its strong focus on sustainability.

The company predominantly produces copper as well as metals such as tin at the former Metallo smelter in Belgium. Aurubis already consumes a significant amount of red metal scrap, with existing capacity in Europe and the United States.

The metals firm states, “Today, Aurubis’ copper cathodes contain more than 40 percent recycling material already. To further promote the circular economy of metals, the group will build on its plans to continue expanding its recycling capacities in the future as well--currently, these capacities amount to about 1 million tons per year.”

Roland Harings, CEO of Aurubis AG, comments, “In this way, we show our customers that acting responsibly is a mindset at Aurubis and that we set the highest standards in energy efficiency and environmental protection in all of our activities. ‘Tomorrow Metals by Aurubis’ represents the assurance that we, as the most sustainable smelter network in the world, are committed to constantly delivering more value with less environmental footprint.”

Michael Hellemann Soerensen, head of commercial activity at Aurubis, adds, “Our commitment encompasses our many efforts to act and do business sustainably, efforts we have already made in the past and will continue to push forward in the future as well. Those who buy from Aurubis today and in the future can be assured that our metals are at the forefront when it comes to their environmental footprint.”

Aurubis says the Tomorrow Metals by Aurubis program is “backed by reliable key performance indicators that are regularly reported and continuously improved with effective measures.”

The firm says it invested more than 670 million euros ($775 million) in environmental protection measures since 2000, reducing its dust emissions by 96 percent and its metal emissions to water by 88 percent at its copper production facilities. “Aurubis already produces copper with less than half the carbon dioxide (CO2) per ton than its international competitors,” states the firm.

While Fastmarkets AMM reports that  Aurubis plans to set up a new copper scrap processing facility in North America to access raw materials generated on this continent, citing a conversation with Harings, a spokesperson for Aurubis tells Recycling Today, "At this point, we cannot confirm any specific plans, but we are always screening promising possibilities for new capacities, be it in Europe or worldwide."