Using Plastic Waste to Create Chocolate Packaging: LYB Group Partners with Mondelēz International to Launch Recycled Packaging

Packaging manufacturers now have a new reference solution for recycled-content flexible packaging: the Malabar chocolate bar outer packaging solution jointly developed by LyondellBasell (LYB), Mondelēz International, Amcor, Taghleef Industries, and other partners across the value chain.

The proportion of packaging made from recycled raw materials reaches 75%.

This packaging uses LyondellBasell’s CirculenRevive series recycled polymer. The raw materials are certified under the ISCC PLUS mass balance accounting system as 100% recycled content, ultimately enabling this Mondelēz packaging product to achieve 75% recycled material content. According to LyondellBasell, this technology can convert hard-to-recycle post-consumer mixed plastic waste into food-packaging-grade raw materials.

Yvonne van der Laan, Executive Vice President of LyondellBasell’s Sustainable Solutions and Technology business, said: “This collaboration with Mondelez reflects our shared vision for the future of the industry and demonstrates our ability to create circular economy solutions that meet stringent production standards while delivering innovation and high quality. We are committed to helping companies implement low-carbon circular solutions while supporting more sustainable everyday lives for people through our products.”

Supporting factory with an annual output of 50,000 tons of recycled raw materials

LyondellBasell plans to rely on MoReTec-1, the first commercial-scale catalytic chemical recycling plant under construction in Wesseling, Germany, to provide a continuous supply of recycled polymers for Marabou chocolate packaging. The company stated that once the plant becomes operational, it will strengthen the supply system for circular feedstocks within its integrated industrial ecosystem and establish an end-to-end value chain linking advanced sorting and recycling facilities with its own pyrolysis and polymerization production units.

LyondellBasell CEO Peter Vanacker said, “This collaboration clearly demonstrates LyondellBasell’s ability to combine innovative chemical recycling technology with its existing large-scale production network. As the MoReTec-1 project advances, the facility will provide a stable supply of recycled resin for Marlborough Packaging while enhancing our ability to convert hard-to-recycle plastic waste into circular feedstock for our own production lines. This integrated model not only creates commercial value but also steadily advances the implementation of our circular and low-carbon development strategy.”

According to LyondellBasell, the MoReTec-1 plant is designed to have an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes of circular feedstock, and its output can be supplied directly to the company’s existing production units for the manufacture of recycled polymers. Source One Plastics, the company’s joint venture located in Eicklingen, Germany, is responsible for processing mixed plastic waste into feedstock suitable for chemical recycling, ensuring the future feedstock supply for MoReTec-1. Currently, the recycled feedstock required by LyondellBasell to produce CirculenRevive recycled polymers is sourced from third-party pyrolysis oil producers.

Integrated Collaboration Across the Entire Packaging Industry Chain

For packaging manufacturers, real-world applications such as the Marabou chocolate outer packaging clearly demonstrate how collaboration across the entire value chain can drive the development of the plastics circular economy. In this project, responsibilities were clearly defined: LyondellBasell supplied the circular polymer raw materials, Taghleef Industries produced the base film, Amcor carried out the film conversion, and the finished flexible packaging was ultimately delivered to Mondelēz.

Richard Ackerman, Packaging Sustainability Manager at Mondelēz International, said: “In the future, we plan to continue increasing the share of recycled plastics used in our packaging. We are honored to work with industry leaders such as LyondellBasell and other partners across the value chain to advance this goal. For consumers, the message is very clear: plastic packaging can be recycled and remade into new food packaging. This project has demonstrated that when brands, recyclers, packaging material producers, and processors work together, the vision of a circular economy can be transformed into a commercially mature product.”

This collaboration also responds to the market demand from major consumer brands: companies are urgently seeking circular polymers that can meet the target for the proportion of recycled materials while also achieving the performance standards for food flexible packaging.

This new type of packaging supports Europe's recycling development goals and is also adapted in advance to the upcoming mandatory recycled material targets of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). For a long time, it has been difficult to recycle soft packaging waste into food-grade materials, and chemical recycling technology provides a solution to this challenge.

ISCC PLUS certification system for replacing fossil-based raw materials

Lehner Basel introduces CirculenRevive, a recycled polymer produced through chemical recycling processes: it converts various hard-to-recycle mixed plastic waste, such as flexible packaging, into raw materials for polymer production. The company incorporates this recycled material into its existing production lines, replacing traditional fossil raw materials, and uses the ISCC PLUS-certified mass balance accounting method to correspond the share of recycled materials to the final products.

The company claims that the performance of the produced recycled polymers is completely identical to that of new virgin plastics and can be used as direct substitutes. After the brand incorporates recycled materials, the product performance is unaffected and fully complies with the regulatory standards of various countries.