a private share placement in Pryme N.V., the cleantech developer of the technology for the plant. Pryme is listed and publicly traded on the
Euronext Growth Market in Oslo. The EUR 6.3 million investment represents 40% of the private placement and
provides Infinity Recycling's Circular Plastic Fund with a 20% stake in the company.
This is the first investment by the Circular Plastics Fund, which backs companies scaling up proven advanced
recycling technologies to break down surging plastic waste flows into primary commodities, which can then be
reused in perpetuity by the industry as inputs for new products. The Fund completed a successful initial capital
raise in February where it received strong backing from global plastic supply chain investors and Invest-NL, the
Dutch investment agency.
The Pryme plant, which is under construction in Rotterdam, is due to start commissioning in the fourth quarter of
2022 and will process about 40,000 tonnes of waste plastic annually once fully operational. Over the next five
years, the Pryme technology will be rolled out in plants in Rotterdam and other key petrochemical hubs in
Northwestern Europe, adding a further 160,000 tonnes in production capacity.
Jan-Willem Muller, Managing Partner at Infinity Recycling, said: “We are immediately putting to work the
capital we have raised for the Circular Plastics Fund in one of the most pioneering advanced recycling projects in
Europe. While there are other sites with greater capacity, these are processing modules linked together, and
Pryme's Rotterdam development is going to be the largest single reactor in Europe. We need to develop many
more advanced recycling plants of this scale to tackle the 'end-of-life' waste crisis created by the ever-linear
growth in the consumption of plastics.”
The Pryme facility uses 'pyrolysis' technology, an efficient advanced recycling process which converts about
70% of the mixed plastic waste into a secondary raw material, pyrolysis oil, which can be used by the chemicals
industry within existing infrastructure as a substitute for naphtha, the key component in the production of new
plastic products. The energy used in the pyrolysis process produces around 70% lower carbon emissions than
incineration, together with landfill and environmental leakage the main end-destinations for 80% of plastic waste
globally, and represents around a 40% to 60% cut in CO2 emissions compared with the production of virgin
feedstock from fossil fuels.
Pryme estimates more than 10 million tonnes of European plastic waste annually is suitable as feedstock for
recycling in its plants and the technology will in the future make a significant contribution to the EU's target of
50% of plastic packaging waste being recycled in Europe by 2025. Dutch independent research organisation TNO
estimated in 2021 that 92,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year could be avoided by chemical recycling (pyrolysis)
of plastic waste versus incineration (energy recovery) for each Pryme reactor line of 40,000 tonnes.
Approximately 400 million tonnes of plastic waste, equivalent to over 35 kgs for each person on the planet, are
created annually. Less than 10% of this is recycled globally. Management consultancy McKinsey & Co. estimates
that the global market for advanced plastic recycling will reach 500 million tonnes per year by 2050, generating
more than USD 300 billion in revenues and could account for around 40% of total virgin feedstock supply for
new products.
The advanced 'upcycling' of waste complements mechanical recycling as it allows the conversion of even the
most difficult plastic waste streams into valuable primary commodities and overcomes quality restrictions in the
use of recycled materials in the manufacturing of new food packaging, which accounts for around 40% of global
plastic demand. When plastics are mechanically recycled around six times, they also become unusable for
producing new products.
Johannes van der Endt, Founder and CEO of Pryme, said: “The investment by Infinity Recycling's Circular
Plastics Fund will allow Pryme to complete its advanced recycling plant in Rotterdam and takes us a big step
closer to a true low carbon circular market for plastics at the heart of Europe's petrochemical industry. It enables
a validation of our low carbon technology on industrial scale by the end of this year, which will be followed by
an ambitious rollout across Europe and around the world, in collaboration with our strategic partners. “
Infinity Recycling's Circular Plastics Fund is an Article 9 'dark green' impact fund, the highest designation under
the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), delivering significant CO2 reductions, while
targeting a net IRR of 18% to 22%. The Luxembourg-registered fund has an initial investment target of EUR 150
million.
Ends
Media contacts:
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