Total acquires mechanical recycler Iber Resinas, moving ahead of 2030 recycling target
Total Energies recently strengthened its recycling activities in Europe with the acquisition of Spain's Iber Resinas. Iber Resinas is a mechanical recycling company that operates two plants near Valencia, Spain, focusing on recycling PP, PE, PET, ABS and PS from household and industrial waste. For TotalEnergies, the deal is a strategic one that will increase and expand its recycled polymer production in Europe while securing access to feedstock through Iber Resinas' supplier network.
Nathalie Brunelle, Senior Vice President, Polymers, TotalEnergies Refining & Chemicals, said: “This acquisition is another step towards our goal of increasing the share of cyclic polymers in plastics production to 30% by 2030.
As part of TotalEnergies, Iber Resinas looks forward to benefiting from the company's capabilities to strengthen its growth. Santiago Sanz and Borja Sanz, owners and managing directors of Iberia Resins, said the acquisition by Total Energy would "enable us to develop our work together in the field of polymer recycling in Spain and the EU, knowledge and development".
The acquisition is just one of TotalEnergies' latest investments in recycling and sustainable polymers. In terms of mechanical recycling, it also operates a subsidiary called Synova, which produces recycled polypropylene in France for the automotive and construction industries. The plant has a capacity of 45,000 tons (by the end of 2022). In 2022, the company also announced the construction of a new 15,000 t/y blending line at its Carling-Saint-Avold platform in northeastern France for high-performance recycled PP for automotive applications.
In September 2020, TotalEnergies announced that it would partner with Plastic Energy to build one of the first advanced recycling plants in France on its Grandpuits zero-crude platform southeast of Paris. In 2022, the company signed additional offtake agreements for pyrolysis oil with Plastic Energy and Honeywell to continue developing advanced recycling technologies in Europe and the US.
Through its joint venture with Corbion, TotalEnergies is also positioning itself as a leading producer of PLA; the joint venture operates a plant in Thailand producing 75,000 tonnes per year of polylactic acid, a 100% bio-based, recyclable, industrially compostable of bioplastics.
