Nordecon Suspends Construction of Commercial-Scale Plastic Recycling Plant in Austria

A spokesperson for Borealis confirmed to Platts on August 6 that the company has suspended its plans to build a commercial-scale mechanical recycling plant for plastic waste in Schwechat, Austria.

The company stated in an email that the decision was made after a detailed evaluation of the project, which showed that under current market conditions, the plant could not meet the expected performance targets.

After completion, the Schwechat plant was originally planned to have a rated capacity of 60,000 tons per year of high-performance recycled polyolefins. Borealis first announced plans for the plant in October 2022.

Despite the planned suspension, Borealis has reiterated its commitment to supporting customers in achieving their circular economy goals. The company mentioned that last year it acquired Integra Plastics, a mechanical recycling company in Bulgaria with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons. The acquisition was completed in April 2024.

"We remain firmly committed to helping our customers achieve their circular economy vision," said Borealis. "We are confident in supplying sufficient quantities of Borcycle M material through other means and will continue to explore all options to expand the supply of Borcycle M according to customer needs."

Before the plan was postponed, several recycling companies in Europe and the UK had already closed their factories, such as BlueCycle in Friesland, Netherlands, and Biffa in Sunderland, UK.

Chemical manufacturers have recently begun to scale back investments in the field of sustainability. Earlier this week, Neste canceled its plan to jointly build a chemical recycling plant in the Netherlands with waste management company Ravago Group. On August 4, Fertiglobe, a fertilizer subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), also announced the postponement of a low-carbon ammonia project in the UAE with an annual capacity of 1 million tons.