Gazprom Neft opens plastic recycling plant with capacity of 8,600 tpy

MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has opened a plant to recycle plastic packaging into secondary granules in Gatchina, Leningrad Region with annual capacity of 8,600 tonnes.

The new plant will handle the complete cycle of recycling plastic packaging made of polypropylene and polyethylene into feedstock for subsequent use, the company said.

The company will ship the produced feedstock, secondary polymer granules to Russian manufacturers of plastic products, as well as use them in-house to produce waterproofing materials for industrial and civilian construction.

The new plant has modern plastic recycling equipment and a closed-cycle water treatment system to ensure environmentally-friendly production, the company said. "The filtration equipment makes it possible to capture small plastic particles, purify the water and return it to the production cycle," the press release said.

Gazprom Neft expects that the use of secondary granules within the company will reach 3,200 tonnes per year by 2030.

"Using recycled raw materials is more cost effective and the recycling process is safe for the environment. Our plastic materials recycling project is an important step for the development of a closed-loop economy in the country. Its implementation will make it possible to return all the plastic that we and our partners produce into the production process," Gazprom Neft's head of petrochemicals and LPG, Igor Korolev said in the press release.