Braskem Pursues Studies in Chemical Recycling

In pursuing solutions that contribute to the circular economy and to sustainable development, Braskem (U.S. office in Philadelphia) has formed new partnerships for the development of chemical recycling, with a focus on transforming post-consumer plastics, such as PE grocery bags and packaging films for snacks and cookies, once again into chemical products that can be used by various different value chains.

The partnerships seek to further research into technologies that can transform plastics that are more difficult to be recycled mechanically into new chemical products. The research is being conducted in partnership with the Polymer Engineering Laboratory (EngePol) at the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the SENAI Institute for Innovation in Biosynthetics and Cetrel. The latter is an environmental service company that started its activities in 1978 jointly with manufacturers located in the Camaçari Petrochemical Complex in Brazil—the largest integrated petrochemicals complex in Latin America..

This new technological route complements the initiatives that Braskem has recently undertaken to contribute to the production concept of a Circular Economy, that involves reducing, reusing, recuperating and recycling materials to create a sustainable cycle from the production phase to the reintegration of materials in a new production process.

To add value to materials made from recycled resins, Braskem has maintained the Wecycle platform since 2015, which combines the need for proper disposal with the market’s demand for sustainable raw materials. The platform works to develop businesses and initiatives that add value to plastic waste through partnerships, which enhances the development of products, solutions and processes that involve all links of the plastics recycling chain by supporting businesses and actions involving recycling.