ReNew ELP

Chemical recycling company ReNew ELP, based in Teesside, UK, are at the forefront of innovative new plastic recycling technology Cat-HTR™ (Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor), which uses supercritical water, heat and pressure to convert waste plastic considered ‘unrecyclable’ through traditional mechanical recycling back into the valuable chemicals and oils from which it was made, for use in the petrochemical industry in the production of new plastic and other materials. This helps to create a circular economy for plastic.

A key benefit of the Cat-HTR™ technology is its ability to recycle multi-layer, flexible plastic materials such as films, and pots, tubs and trays (PTT), considered unrecyclable through traditional mechanical recycling, and are instead sent to landfill or incineration. 

Vitally, new materials made from ReNew ELP’s chemically recycled feedstocks are suitable for use in food-contact packaging material, a problem area for mechanical recycling systems whose products do not meet European Food Standard Agency requirements.

Target feedstock is end-of-life, contaminated, post-consumer flexible and rigid plastics. The Cat-HTR™ process is able to process food-contaminated, mixed-polymer streams without need for segregation.

In line with the Government’s policy of ‘Producer Pays’, Cat-HTR™ offers a solution to manufacturers, retailers and brand owners levied with the expected Plastic Packaging Tax. This new regulation will enforce a 30% recycled content requirement for all plastic packaging manufactured in both the UK and pre-filled from overseas, from 2022. Compared with mechanical recycling, Cat-HTR™ produces a feedstock which can be used to make virgin-grade polymer suitable for food, health and pharmaceutical packaging applications from contaminated household plastics, helping those levied with the tax to reach the 30% minimum content.

Chemical recycling company ReNew ELP offers a solution to many of the current recycling challenges, producing recycled hydrocarbon products that can be used in the manufacture of new packaging, and ensuring used plastic packaging materials such as flexible films, pots, tubs and trays are themselves recycled, reducing volume sent for incineration or disposed of in landfill sites.

Alongside diverting plastic away from the land and oceans and reducing plastic pollution, the Cat-HTR™ technology represents significant overall environmental benefit. Independent studies have shown that chemical recycling can reduce CO₂ emissions by 1.5 tonnes for every tonne of plastic waste processed when compared to incineration. This means that each ReNew ELP 20,000 tonne processing line saves approximately 30,000 tonnes of CO₂  annually, when compared to incineration. Environmental benefits include:

• Reducing plastic pollution of the natural environment
• An increased scope of recyclable plastics, including those classed as ‘unrecyclable’
• As Cat-HTR™ is not a combustion process, it does not produce toxic by-products such as dioxins
• A reduction on fossil sourced feedstock for the manufacture of new plastics, as part of the decarbonization agenda
• High yields - up to 85% of the mass of plastic is converted to hydrocarbon products, and process gas is recycled to the fuel boilers, reducing dependency on natural gas
• Minimal waste is produced- impurities (colourants, additives, fillers etc.) in the plastic feedstock fall out into the heavier hydrocarbon feedstocks, which can be used in construction

The technology demonstrates a complementary solution to sit alongside traditional mechanical recycling to create a circular economy and goes hand in hand with efforts to reduce single-use plastic and helps to create a plastic-neutral society.