BASF Signs Agreement, Countdown Begins for This Sector Layout

On March 11, 2025, BASF and Braven Environmental, a leader in advanced recycling, officially signed a supply agreement for Braven PyChem®, an innovative recycled feedstock derived from mixed plastic waste, to partially replace fossil resources at the BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemical (BTP) plant in Port Arthur, Texas.

According to the terms of the agreement, Braven will provide a stable supply of Braven PyChem®, which has received ISCC PLUS certification, to BASF through its multi-unit facility established in Texarkana, Texas. The product is produced using Braven's proprietary pyrolysis technology, with raw materials being plastic waste streams recovered from landfills and incineration facilities. For every ton of plastic waste processed, Braven can produce nearly 200 gallons of Braven PyChem™.

BASF plans to integrate PyChem® into its ChemCycling® process, which uses a third-party audited mass balance approach to ensure that the proportion of recycled plastics is accurately allocated to specific products in the value chain. These products, marked with the "Ccycled®" label, perform just as well as those made from fossil raw materials, and customers can process them in the same way as traditional products for use in high-standard fields such as construction and automotive. This marks a significant breakthrough in the commercialization of BASF's Ccycled® product portfolio in North America.

The global plastic recycling market size exceeded 50 billion US dollars in 2024, and is expected to exceed 110 billion US dollars by 2033. The importance and urgency of plastic recycling have reached a high consensus globally, with many countries and regions introducing corresponding regulations and policies.

The EU is at the forefront of global plastic recycling, with policies and legal frameworks promoting the circular use of plastics. In January 2025, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) was officially published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This regulation will come into effect on February 11, 2025, and be enforced from August 12, 2026, with some provisions having a transition period. The PPWR requires that by 2025, the recycling rate for plastic packaging reaches 50%; by 2030, it reaches 55%, and sets mandatory targets for recycled content in different plastic packaging applications. By 2040, the recycled material content in single-use plastic beverage bottles must reach 65%, PET contact-sensitive packaging must reach 50%, and other packaging must reach 65%. It stipulates that by 2030, all packaging must be recyclable and introduces recyclability rating criteria.

Some states in the U.S. have introduced policies regarding plastic recycling, but a unified national recycling standard has yet to be established. In September 2024, bipartisan lawmakers introduced the 2024 Accelerating a Circular Economy for Plastics and Recycling Innovation Act (H.R.9676) to the House of Representatives. This bill aims to create a unified plastic recycling standard across the U.S. to improve recycling rates. The key contents include: setting the recycled plastic content in plastic packaging (packaging made from virgin and recycled resins sold and distributed in the U.S.) with a minimum usage ratio of 30% by 2030. Additionally, an evaluation process will be set up to track progress.

Thailand is implementing the 2018-2030 Plastic Waste Management Roadmap, with the goal of gradually reducing and ultimately stopping the use of plastic products, aiming to achieve 100% recycling and reuse of plastic waste by 2027. According to Thai media reports, Thailand generates about 2 million tons of plastic waste annually, of which only 25% is effectively recycled.

India launched the India Plastics Pact in 2021, setting four 2030 target actions, including listing single-use plastics, ensuring 100% of plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable, achieving 50% effective recycling of plastic packaging, and reaching an average recycled content of 25% for all plastic packaging.

BASF, Dow, LyondellBasell, and other chemical giants are all stepping up their layouts in the recycled plastics sector. Compared to small and medium-sized enterprises, these chemical giants have more substantial financial strength and more feasible strategic plans to guide the implementation of recycling layouts.

According to statistics, in 2023, China's waste plastic recycling volume was 19 million tons, an increase of 5.6% year-on-year, with the value of waste plastic recycling at 103 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.9% year-on-year. Among them, the recycling volume proportions of waste PET, waste PE, and waste PP were 33%, 21%, and 21% respectively, with PET being the largest of the three varieties in terms of recycling volume.

In 2023, the domestic recycled plastic production in China was approximately 16 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. Among this, the production of recycled PET was about 5.4 million tons, accounting for 34%. The production of recycled PE pellets was about 3.4 million tons, accounting for 21%; the production of recycled PP pellets was about 3.3 million tons, accounting for 21%.

The main methods of plastic recycling include mechanical, physical, chemical, and biological reutilization. The chemical raw materials produced after recycling can be used again for the production of plastics, to replace traditional oil-based plastics, thereby achieving the circular utilization of resources and sustainable development of the environment; in addition, biobased plastics can also be produced from renewable resources at the source.

In domestic enterprises, chemical new materials have compared and analyzed the situation of material recycling between Wanhua Chemical and BASF.

Jingbo Holding Group successfully established a plastic recycling industrial chain, achieving a chemical cycle from waste plastic to pyrolysis oil to regenerated new plastic. The produced recycled polypropylene has the same physical properties and product stability as virgin plastic, meeting the safety and hygiene standards for food, medical, and other fields.

Shenghong Group has built two globally pioneering green industrial chains. One uses discarded mineral water bottles to produce polyester fiber, with 8 mineral water bottles capable of making 1 T-shirt; the other uses carbon dioxide to produce polyester fiber, which can reduce carbon emissions by 28.4%.

In 2019, the European Green Deal was proposed, becoming the world's most radical sustainability roadmap, with a goal to achieve the world's first "carbon-neutral" region by 2050. On February 26, 2025, the European Commission released the first set of comprehensive legislative proposals (Omnibus Package), marking the transition of EU sustainability regulations from a "radical phase" to an "optimization phase."

On February 17, 2025, according to Akesen Environmental Technology, the rapporteurs of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment (ENVI) and the Committee on the Internal Market (IMCO) submitted a joint draft report on the planned EU End-of-Life Vehicles (new version of ELV) regulation. The draft report proposes to lower the targets for the use of recycled materials in vehicles. Compared with the proposal from the European Commission, key revisions include reducing the target for recycled plastic content from 25% to 20% (biobased plastics) and lowering the end-of-life vehicle closed-loop target from 25% to 15%. However, some European associations have jointly opposed the reduction of these targets.

Europe's "strict" material recycling standards and targets have to some extent stimulated and promoted actions by chemical companies in material recycling and the development of bio-based materials. However, at this stage, issues such as the energy crisis and rising costs are undoubtedly "obstacles" on the path of policy implementation, also prompting policies to gradually become more optimized.

For Chinese chemical new materials enterprises, especially those intending to expand into the European market, it is necessary to plan earlier on how to meet the policy requirements for related materials in Europe. At the same time, in fields such as electric vehicles, batteries, photovoltaics, and electronic appliances, downstream customers are actively entering overseas markets. To better match the product entry standards of Europe, downstream supporting material enterprises also need to quickly cooperate and make corresponding adjustments.

The closest in time, after the EU Forced Labour Ban passed in December 2024 came into effect, companies such as DJI, Midea, and Haier began to strictly control overtime. For companies targeting globalization, the "butterfly effect" necessitates being "prepared for future contingencies."