Loop Industries, a Montreal-based technology company that has developed proprietary PET depolymerization technology for no and low-value PET and polyester fiber waste, has joined forces with French multinational environmental services provider Suez to build the first Infinite Loop recycling facility in Europe for the production of virgin quality, food grade, 100 percent recycled, recyclable plastic.
The new project will help global beverage and consumer goods brand companies in Europe meet the targets for a high level of recycled content in their products to which they have committed.
Europe consumes approximately 5.5 million metric tons of PET plastic every year, less than 7 percent of which makes its way back into bottles. European governments are imposing new regulation on single use plastics and set minimum recycled content laws for packaging.
Loop’s patented and proprietary low-energy technology enables waste plastic to be recycled an ‘infinite number of times’, the company claims, with no degradation in quality.
The new facility will will be the largest in the world, with the potential to produce the equivalent of approximately 4.2 billion food grade beverage bottles made of 100 percent recycled and infinitely recyclable PET plastic annually.
This will directly increase recycling rates in the country where it will be built.
“The Infinite Loop technology creates the infrastructure countries need to be able to eliminate plastic waste and increase recycling rates,” said Loop Founder and CEO Daniel Solomita. “Loop’s expansion is tailored to our customers’ needs allowing them to meet and exceed their ambitious targets for recycled content in their packaging, but also to have the ability to recycle their packaging infinitely, without having to compromise quality.”
Final site selection and engineering are targeted to be completed by mid-2021 and commissioning of the facility is currently projected in 2023.