Greiner Packaging & LyondellBasell offer a circular solution for coffee capsules

LyondellBasell has developed polymers based on advanced recycled post-consumer materials. These polymers, branded under the name CirculenRevive, are made using an advanced recycling process to convert plastic waste into feedstock, which is used to produce new polymers using a mass balance approach.

With the support of Greiner Packaging, these polymers will be used to make coffee capsules for Nestlé’s Nescafé Dolce Gusto. This collaboration aims to help advance a circular economy for plastic.

These polymers meet the strict requirements of the food industry. Both LyondellBasell and Greiner Packaging sites involved are ISCC PLUS certified. This well-known global certification provides traceability along the supply chain. With the mass balance method, the company tracks how much advanced recycled material goes into the production process of its CirculenRevive products and can attribute the recycled content to the final polymer via a Sustainability Declaration.

Richard Roudeix, LyondellBasell senior vice president of Olefins and Polyolefins for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, says, “We are extremely pleased to support our customer Greiner Packaging and ultimately Nestlé with a circular economy solution from our recently launched Circulen product family.”

He adds, “CirculenRevive polymers help to address at scale the challenge of hard-to-recycle plastics. The advanced recycling technology can utilize used mixed plastics, which cannot be used in mechanical recycling, allowing larger volumes of plastic waste to return to the value chain and would otherwise be destined for energy recovery or landfill. At the same time, these polymers have the same characteristics and high quality than fossil-based materials. Ultimately, LyondellBasell aims to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030.”

Manfred Stanek, chief executive officer of Greiner Packaging, adds, “Therefore, we are very pleased to be part of this project which also demonstrates the importance of the whole value chain working closely together. With cooperations like this we are confident that, in the near future, we will succeed in realizing a circular economy together as an industry. We are very happy to realize this forward-looking project. It is our goal to use as much recycled material for our packaging as possible and we believe that we need to explore every opportunity to reach this goal and make our packaging more sustainable.”