NEWS
Exxon goes cold on European chemical recycling projects
ExxonMobil is pausing plans to build two chemical recycling projects for plastics waste in Europe, according to a report by Reuters. The US energy and chemicals group has a €100m investment planned for two projects for chemical recycling at its petrochemical facilities in Rotter- dam, Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium, which would process 80,000 tonnes/yr of plastic waste. However, in an interview with
Reuters, Senior Vice President Jack Williams said the two projects had now been paused because of the European Commission’s proposed allocation method for the mass balance approach to be used in chemical recycling operations. The Commission has started a consultation on the Fuel-Use Excluded method it prefers for calculating output that can be claimed as “recycled” from a plant using plastics waste input (Compound- ing World July 2025). Williams said this puts integrated petrochemical facilities at a disadvantage to standalone chemical recycling facilities. “Everything else is on track. We’ve had local support,” he said in the Reuters report. “We want to make these investments... The only thing
ExxonMobil facility in Baytown, Texas, US, where the group has two recycling units
standing between us and doing this project is EU policy.” In the same Reuters interview, Williams said that although US import tariffs were not a significant problem for the company, EU regulation was. He specifically urged the EU to repeal the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive that requires larger companies to check if their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage. The application of the directive has been postponed until July 2027 to give EU member states more time to pass
implementing laws. In the US, ExxonMobil has been
expanding its chemical recycling operations. In June, it said a second recycling unit at its facility in Baytown, Texas, would double the capacity there after processing more than 100m lb of plastic waste since start-up in late 2022. The group also plans a third and fourth Baytown unit and the first unit at its facility in Beaumont, Texas which would increase overall processing capacity to approximately 500m lb/yr of plastic waste. �
https://corporate.exxonmobil.com
EuPC calls for no change on EU’s Plastics Tax
The European Commission has suggested increasing the “plastics own resource” (sometimes referred to as the “Plastics Tax”) paid by EU Member States. Since 1 January 2021, the EU has received a national contri- bution based on the amount of non-recycled plastic packaging waste. In re- sponse, European Plastics Converters (EuPC) called on
6
the Commission to keep the 0.80 cent/kg and earmark the proceeds into a dedi- cated fund to help build a more circular economy for plastics. Contributions to the
Plastics Tax depend on effective implementation and how potential impacts on competitiveness, material substitution, and enforcement, are ad-
COMPOUNDING WORLD | October 2025
dressed in order to avoid fraud on products, raw materials, and recyclates imported into the EU. However, EuPC points
out that the European plastics industry is facing severe issues due to high energy prices, labour, and environmental compliance costs in comparison to manufacturers operating in third countries, leading to a
phase of de-industrialisa- tion. On top of existing challenges, the current uncertain trade framework makes it imperative for the EU to safeguard the competitiveness of critical industrial sectors such as plastics and to avoid further burdens that compromise their economic viability and circular transition. �
www.plasticsconverters.eu
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: EXXONMOBIL
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
