Plastic Energy’s LCA Shows Its TAC™ Process Cuts CO₂ by Up to 78%

The results are part of the company's latest Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)*** study, completed by the climate change consultancy Sphera and commissioned by Plastic Energy.

It compares emissions created throughout the lifecycle of hard-to-recycle plastics in different scenarios, including recycling using Plastic Energy's technology. These findings build on the company's first LCA released in 2020.

Plastic Energy's head of Policy and Sustainability Adela Putinelu said, 'sharing this second LCA is an important milestone for both Plastic Energy, and the chemical recycling industry. Being able to properly quantify the environmental impact of our technology, underscores the benefit it provides to emissions, circularity and waste reduction of hard-to-recycle plastics'.

Plastic Energy's TAC™ recycling process takes end of life post-consumer flexible plastic packaging, destined for incineration or landfill, and creates a recycled oil called TACOIL™. This recycled oil goes on to replace fossil oils in the production of new plastics. In this way, it can be viewed both as a waste reduction technology and a production process for creating new raw materials.

'This study demonstrates the possibility of our TAC™ process as a well-established chemical recycling technology producing a valuable alternative feedstock for the chemical industry, as well as serving as a novel waste management pathway', Putinelu said.

* Incineration with energy recovery is currently the business-as-usual method for flexible plastics waste disposal across Europe.
**100% renewable electricity scenario (EU).
*** LCA is also known as Life Cycle Analysis, but Sphera uses 'Life Cycle Assessment' in this report, so this term will be used throughout.