Swedish Plastic Recycling (Svensk Plaståtervinning), which is owned by a large part of the Swedish business community, is now investing heavily in building what it calls the ‘world’s largest and most modern facility for plastic recycling’, Site Zero.
The facility will be able to recycle all plastic packaging from Swedish households and make plastics circular – completely without any CO2 emissions, it says.
Swedish Plastic Recycling is investing a record SEK 1 billion in the state-of-the-art facility that will be completed in 2023.
This investment creates the prerequisites needed for making Sweden a world leader in plastic recycling.
The existing facility in Motala, which is already the ‘most efficient’ in Europe, the company says, is now being developed with next-generation technology.
“We are doubling our capacity and will be able to handle 200,000 tonnes of plastic packaging per year. This creates the conditions needed for receiving and eventually recycle all plastic packaging from Swedish households,” says Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Swedish Plastic Recycling.
‘World leader’
The company says that it will be possible to recycle ‘practically all types of plastic’. Today the facility can manage four types of plastic but will be increased to twelve different types following the investment.
Any small parts of plastic that remain after the sorting process are separated to be sent to chemical recycling, or to become new composite products, it says.
“There is today no other facility in the world that has that capability. We are also preparing for washing and granulation of the plastic in phase two, which is planned for 2025. Then our entire plastic flow in Sweden can become circular,” explains Mattias Philipsson.
Site Zero will be completely climate neutral with zero emissions, the company also says. The facility is powered by renewable energy, and the small amount of plastic and other waste that cannot be recycled will be sent for Carbon Capture Storage.
There are also plans to produce renewable energy by covering the building’s large flat roof with solar panels.
“This investment creates the prerequisites needed for making Sweden a world leader in plastic recycling. Being able to do it together with our producer customers and owners, who consist of large parts of the Swedish business community, is very inspiring,” says Mattias Philipsson.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) also contributes with a financing of just over SEK 180 million through the climate investment aid programme known as Klimatklivet.