TotalEnergies to build a new mechanical recycling unit

TotalEnergies has announced the building of a new mechanical recycling unit for plastic waste at its Grandpuits site southeast of Paris. This new investment follows those announced in June 2023 - the doubling of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production and construction of a biomethane production unit - in line with the company’s ambition to develop low-carbon energy and the circular economy. The new unit should enter service in 2026 and produce 30,000 tons a year of high value-added compounds containing up to 50% recycled plastic material.

The new unit should enter service in 2026 and produce 30,000 tons a year of high value-added compounds containing up to 50% recycled plastic material. In addition to the mechanical recycling unit, a specific center will be established that provides technical assistance to customers and develops new products, in order to provide sufficient support for the commercialization of the new range of hybrid compounds. One year after investing in a new production line that makes high-performance recycled polypropylene for the automotive sector in its plant at Carling, the Company is now expanding its recycled polymer offering with this new unit at Grandpuits. It will target the high-performance packaging market, in particular for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

"This investment is great news for the local area and represents another milestone for the zero-crude platform at Grandpuits. The investment in this plastic recycling unit is entirely consistent with the Company’s ambition to grow the circular economy and will contribute to the objective of reaching one million tons of circular polymers by 2030. By developing all these projects at the Grandpuits zero-crude platform, the Company can confirm it will maintain 250 jobs at the site, honoring the commitments that it made in September 2020," said Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals at TotalEnergies.

Grandpuits is an ambitious project for low-carbon energy and the circular economy. In September 2020, in line with its aim to get to net zero by 2050, TotalEnergies launched a project to convert this industrial site. The "zero-crude" project, which will cost an estimated total of over 500 million euros, is based on the development of several future-oriented activities in biomass, renewables and the circular economy.