Braskem Signs Contract with Nexus Circular for Supply of Circular Feedstocks

A 10-year definitive commercial agreement for the supply of circular feedstocks from a new advanced recycling facility has been signed between Braskem and Nexus Circular. As reported a year ago, Braskem completed a strategic investment in Nexus Circular, a provider of advanced recycling that converts landfill-bound plastics into circular feedstocks used in the production of sustainable virgin plastics.

Using a proprietary advanced recycling technology, Nexus converts a range of hard-to-recycle plastics especially landfill bound plastic films into its circular feedstocks which can then be converted back into virgin plastic. The technology is based on thermal depolymerization of incoming waste plastics within a pyrolysis reactor. The system includes a front end that manages and sorts incoming materials and is able to process a variety of waste plastics including PE, PP, and PS. The system is able to accept and remove controlled levels of contamination such as paper, cardboard, moisture, and plastics like PET and PVC that do not convert to oil.

The contracted volumes of advanced recycled circular products from Nexus will support Braskem’s strategic objective to sell over 661 million lbs of products with recycled content by 2025 and over 2.2 billion lbs by 2030. Braskem America’s CEO Mark Nikolich said, “We look forward to a long and growing partnership with Nexus to secure high-quality feedstock for the production of Braskem’s certified circular PP resins. This supports our corporate initiative to develop a carbon neutral circular economy for plastics while supporting our clients’ goals for plastics with recycled content.”

This project will add to Braskem America’s existing sustainable PP and PE portfolio, which currently consists of nine Post-Consumer Recycled  products including two PCR PP grades that can be used in a wide range of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food contact applications where PP is used today. Braskem’s full range of PCR solutions can be used in a variety of PP and PE applications, including but not limited to consumer packaging, caps and closures, durable goods, automotive, and consumer housewares.