New site to tackle Italy’s growing polyolefin film waste stream

Dutch tech company Bluealp is providing pyrolysis technology to a new treatment plant being built in Italy.

Waste management firm Recupero Etico Sostenibile (RES) is setting up a chemical recycling hub for plastic scrap next to its existing mechanical recycling facilities in Pettoranello del Molise. The company has signed a contract with Bluealp for the facility to be ready in mid-2026.

Located 100km north of Naples, it will be able to treat 20 000 tonnes of plastic scrap per year. The input material will mostly consist of hard-to-recycle waste such as polyolefin film fractions.

More interest

A spike in demand for recycled content in the fast-moving consumer goods market sparked the collaboration. The global polyolefin films market was worth EUR 92.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to hit EUR 156 billion by 2032.

Installed recycling capacity of flexible polyolefins grew notably by 8% from 2018 to 2020. In two years, capacity reached 2.7 million tonnes at an estimated 200 recycling facilities, a new study shows. The biggest facilities can process over 40 000 tonnes per annum.

Italy is among those with the biggest recycling capacity, including Germany, Spain, Poland and the Benelux.

Accelerating plastic recycling

RES ceo Antonio Llautucio Valerio says his company will be the first national operator to close the waste cycle from collection to the sale of the raw material resulting from the processing.

‘It is key that waste managers invest in recycling plants and technology, giving another life to plastic waste that currently cannot be mechanically recycled,’ says Bluealp ceo Valentijn de Neve. Together with RES, he is confident it is possible to accelerate plastic recycling.

RES generates around 16% of its net turnover through the sale of recyclable materials, including plastics, glass, paper, cartons and metals recovered from mechanical-biological treatment and waste sorting plants. It generated net income of around EUR 2 million last year on net sales of just over EUR 19 million.