Helping to tackle the tough challenge of plastic waste

It was fascinating to visit the Shell Chemicals Park Moerdijk, in the Netherlands, and see how this site is transforming to meet the needs of customers today and in the more sustainable, lower-carbon future.

While there, I announced Shell’s decision to invest in a new unit – one that I believe will help us play our part in tackling a big global challenge.

The unit is a special kind of upgrader, and the challenge is tough: to keep plastic waste out of the world’s oceans, landscapes and landfill.

It is going to take a great effort, involving many individuals, organisations, regulators and companies like Shell.

The new upgrader can contribute. It can help turn useless plastic waste into useful products.

Our partner BlueAlp has the technology to take hard-to-recycle plastic waste – which would otherwise be incinerated or dumped in landfill – and turn it into a liquid called pyrolysis oil.?

We will put that liquid into our new upgrader to remove impurities.

The liquid that comes out of the upgrader is perfect for producing high-quality base chemicals – chemical building blocks that go into making everything from sports shoes to mattresses.

We plan to have the upgrader operational by 2024, if not earlier.

We are building another one at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore.

But no upgrader – no two upgraders –?can solve the challenge of tackling plastic waste.

This requires a huge collaborative effort. That is why Shell is a member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a global network of companies seeking to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in projects that can make a difference.?

It is why in Germany in February, I signed up to a strategic alliance with REMONDIS, one of the world’s largest waste management and recycling companies. The alliance will help us turn more waste into useful products at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland.

Shell’s ambition is to use 1 million tonnes of plastic waste a year in our global chemical plants by 2025.?

We are also working to reduce single-use plastic from our Shell-owned service stations. We must push ourselves as hard as we can.

If every element in society plays its part, together we can make great progress.

Regulators around the world, for example, could support the kind of chemical recycling that involves pyrolysis oil and upgraders.?

That could help such innovations to reach their full potential as valuable additions to more established ways of managing plastic waste such as mechanical recycling.?

I see the upgrader coming to Moerdijk as one way of tackling a tough challenge. Let’s work together to find more.