Neste is set to receive around €135 million in EU funding to help it build a chemical recycling wing at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, as it looks to refine plastic waste and prepare it for use in other products.

Through the EU’s Innovation Fund, the firm hopes it can install treatment capacity to handle 400,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year – increasing to over a million by 2030.

The news comes following the announcement of a feasibility study looking into the viability of refining plastic waste at this plant, which was unveiled back in March. Implementation of the tech is expected for early 2024.

Project PULSE – short for “Pretreatment and Upgrading of Liquefied Waste Plastic to Scale Up Circular Economy” is an important step in Neste’s sustainability goals and the “commercialization of chemical recycling of waste plastic”.

The firm hopes this tech will not only allow for the scaling up of chemical recycling but also allow for the petrochemical industry, which is responsible for many of the raw materials used to make plastics, to require fewer overall materials.

The plan is, once scaled up, that it could also reduce overall plastic waste and increase recycling rates of plastics. This, in turn, will also lower carbon emissions.

More info here: https://industryeurope.com/sectors/chemicals-biochemicals/neste-receives-eu-funding-for-plastic-waste-refinement/