Chemicals giant INEOS has entered into a supply agreement with waste management firm Saica Natur for developing low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with a recycled content.

INEOS says the long-term agreement by its Olefins & Polymers business will help serve the growing demand for increased levels of recycled product in sustainable, “virgin quality” flexible packaging. Saica Natur will supply a recycled pellet while INEOS will manufacture the film products (polyethylene).

Saica Natur, which has a branch in the UK, is the waste and facilities side of the Saica group, a Spanish-owned paper manufacturing business with a UK mill in Manchester.

The chemicals company says the partnership would allow it to expand its Recycl-IN range to include flexible packaging solutions with more than 60% recycled content including linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) .

Rob Ingram, chief executive of INEOS Olefins & Polymers North Europe, said: “Together with Saica Natur we have the innovation, drive, know-how and capability to move towards a circular economy for plastics in flexible packaging.

“Saica are experts in recycling post-consumer plastic film. INEOS has the polymer science expertise to improve the quality, specification, and performance of the finished product.

“We are very pleased to add these new flexible packaging products to our Recycl-IN range.”

INEOS says its high-performance polyethylene Recycl-IN resins were developed to meet the needs of converters, brand owners and retailers using more than 60% recycled plastics in applications such as stretch and lamination films.

Saica explains that its Natur Cycle Plus facility at El Burgo de Ebro (Zaragoza) Spain is specialised in the recovery, classification and treatment of LDPE to produce recyclates.

Victor Sanz, director general of Saica Natur, said: “With this agreement, we are moving towards a circular economy model through the use of resources in a more sustainable and efficient way.”

At the plant “homogeneous pellets” are produced, which “can be highly processed, are transparent and odour-free and capable of replacing virgin pellets without altering the mechanical characteristics of the end product”.

INEOS first launched its Recycl-IN range of polymers in 2019 to address consumer needs for high recycled content resins.

The range initially contained up to 50% post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) compounded with virgin polymers and was intended to cover rigid and flexible products for use in non-food contact applications.

The new addition to the Recycl-IN range is for use in flexible packaging and pushes technical boundaries by incorporating more than 60% PCR, INEOS says.

The stretch and lamination films made from Recycl-IN are typically used in flexible pouches for detergent and personal care products.

Under proposals outlined in the government’s Resources and Waste Strategy, producers will pay more towards the cost of recycling or disposing of their packaging waste.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out plans for a plastics tax in his March budget. The budget document explained the tax was to be introduced in April 2022 and set at £200 a tonne (see letsrecycle.com story).

It will apply for plastic packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic manufactured in or imported to the UK.

This has seen some grades of recycled plastic commanding higher prices in recent months.

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