Sealed Air Invests In Advanced Recycling Company Plastic Energy

Sealed Air Corporation, has announced it has signed a collaboration agreement with Plastic Energy, an industry-leading company in advanced recycling technology. Additionally, Sealed Air has made an equity investment in Plastic Energy Global, the parent company of Plastic Energy.

Plastic Energy Global was established in 2012 with the goal of creating a circular economy for plastics by diverting plastic waste away from landfills and oceans. Headquartered in London, the company has two operations in Spain and projects developing in Western Europe and Asia, with a vision for 50 new facilities over the next 10 years.

"We’re excited to join forces with Plastic Energy to innovate faster and accelerate the development of new technology that eliminates waste and ensures a circular economy for plastics,” said Ted Doheny, Sealed Air President & CEO. “This collaboration will help us meet our 2025 sustainability pledge and lead the way in transforming our industry.”

“We are delighted to start this new strategic collaboration with Sealed Air, which will lead to the acceleration of development of the advanced recycling industry as well as provide a circular solution for more and more plastics,” said Carlos Monreal, Founder and CEO of Plastic Energy.

The Challenge: Combating Waste

Waste is a global issue. The majority of plastic waste ends up either in a landfill, incinerated or disposed of in the environment because it is either never recovered or considered unable to be recycled. From a societal perspective, it is critical that we expand the options available for recycling plastics.

The Opportunity

Plastic Energy has a technology platform that enables the diversion of waste plastic away from landfills, with the goal of processing 300,000 tonnes of plastic by 2025. Plastic Energy transforms post-consumer plastic waste into new recycled oil that can be used to create essential packaging solutions, including protective packaging for food, thereby enabling plastic to become a new resource. Through this collaboration with Plastic Energy, Sealed Air is helping to eliminate plastic waste, support complementary approaches to recycling and enable its customers to incorporate recycled plastics back into their packaging.

Bold Commitment and Collaboration

Sealed Air is determined to play a key role in the drive towards a circular economy for plastics through collaboration, research, development and implementation of new technologies.

In 2018, Sealed Air announced a bold sustainability and plastics commitment, pledging to design and advance packaging solutions that are 100 percent recyclable or reusable by 2025. As part of the pledge, the company has an ambitious target of 50 percent average recycled content across all packaging solutions with 60 percent of that coming from post-consumer recycled content.

The pledge also includes a commitment to lead collaborations with global partners to increase recycling and reuse rates, which aligns with the investment in Plastic Energy. In 2019, Sealed Air also announced it had joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a global nonprofit committed to investing in solutions to help eliminate plastic waste in the environment.