Versalis has launched a project for the development of a new technology to chemically recycle plastic waste, the Eni chemical company announced today.

The Hoop project is a joint venture with Italian engineering company Servizi di Ricerche e Sviluppo (S.R.S.), and will use pyrolysis technology to transform mixed plastic waste into feedstock for new polymers.

Versalis will leverage its technological and industrial expertise to build a first plant with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes per year at the Mantova site, with a view to progressively scalingup, starting from its sites in Italy.

"This project confirms Versalis’ strategy to develop a chemical recycling technology that complements mechanical recycling technology, which the company is already engaged in, with the goal to give new life to plastic waste" said Daniele Ferrari, Versalis CEO.

The Hoop project aims to create a theoretically endless plastic recycling process, producing new virgin polymers suitable for all applications and that are identical to polymers that come from fossil raw materials.