A new trend appears to be emerging on the European polyolefins front. Following June’s announcement by Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) that it had acquired recycler mtm plastics (Niedergebra / Germany; www.mtm-plastics.eu) with a view to meeting rising demand for recyclate that can be blended with virgin material from existing plants (see Plasteurope.com of 03.06.2016), French petrochemicals producer Total (Paris; www.total.com/en) in early August introduced a new HDPE “Circular Compounds” range, with a high content of “superior, post-consumer recyclates.”

The family is made up of natural HDPE grades containing at least 25% or 50% of post-consumer recyclate, which originates from household waste collected across western Europe and recycled by a select group of Total’s partners. The recyclate is then compounded with the company’s virgin HDPE at its plant in Antwerp / Belgium, yielding what Total called a compound that “largely outperforms” virgin resin in all key aspects for their application. Come 2017, the French group will be capable of producing an initial 20,000 t/y of its HDPE circular compounds, earmarked for applications like blow-moulded bottles and heavy-duty containers for household and industrial liquids.

Commenting on the launch, Jean Viallefont, vice president Polymers Europe, said, “Total is currently extending the applications of the recycled compounds concept by developing additional new grades, since we believe it will be essential to place the European virgin plastics industry in a new yet essential role as ‘circularity enhancer’.” The concept of circular compounds will open up new markets for the recycling and virgin resin industry, the company added.