The Orlen Unipetrol Group, part of the Orlen Group, has recently entered into the segment of mechanical recycling by acquiring an Italian-Czech company REMAQ, a regional leader in recycling. The move was made last week and will aid the Orlen Group in achieving almost 10 per cent of the 2030 strategic target for recycling capacity.
As part of the company’s strategy, the ORLEN Unipetrol Group focuses on the principles of circular economy and sustainability. It develops them by building a broad portfolio of recycling activities, thanks to which it can effectively obtain and process plastic waste and bio waste, and make new petrochemical products and biofuels from it. The recent entry into the segment of mechanical recycling allows the Group to follow these activities, particularly in the area of chemical recycling.
“Our chemical plastic recycling projects will allow us to deliver on circular economy goals and to reduce demand for oil and gas as feedstocks in petrochemical production,” saidDaniel Obajtek, President of the PKN ORLEN Management Board. “The acquisition of REMAQ will help the ORLEN Group to expand its mechanical recycling capabilities. We aim to effectively link all waste recycling methods and create a fully functional chain enabling local governments, waste distributors and final converters to work together efficiently. In line with the ORLEN Group’s Strategy, we target up to 400,000 tonnes of plastic and natural waste recycling capacity by 2030. This is our contribution to protecting the environment and the planet that will also drive long-term value growth for the Group.”
“We fulfil our mission to be emission-neutral by 2050 by implementing the gradual goals that we have defined in our sustainable development strategy until 2030. One of them is the development of recycling activities so that in 2030 up to twenty per cent of our petrochemical production is created through the recycling of plastic and organic waste”, added Tomáš Wiatrak, CEO of ORLEN Unipetrol Group.
Founded in 2004, the Italian-Czech company REMAQ trades in recycled plastics, particularly polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene. In 2009, the company opened a production plant on an industrial estate in Otrokovice in the Czech Republic, where it operates four modern plastic regranulation lines with a total capacity of just under 29,000 tonnes per year. REMAQ is the fastest-growing plastics recycler in the Czech Republic with a significant position in the European market. The company delivers annual revenue in excess of 0.5 billion Czech korunas (around 20 million euros).
The ORLEN Group plans to close the REMAQ acquisition by the end of March 2023.
“We have built a successful company that is the leader of the rapidly developing recycling market in the Central and Eastern European region,” saidLibor Večeřa, CEO of REMAQ. “We perceive the connection with the strong ORLEN Unipetrol group as the right step towards ensuring its further development. Together we will be stronger and better able to respond to customer expectations by enriching our product portfolio with specialised applications and further reducing its carbon footprint.”
Approximately 24.5 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Europe every year. Over a third is recycled, 42 per cent is incinerated and 24 per cent is landfilled, which is not congruent with the circular economy model. Plastic waste is estimated to increase to 31m tonnes in 2035, which should result in an increased number of recycling projects.