Case Study: Securing Plastics Feedstock for Chemical recycling
Client Type: Three leading global chemical companies and CPG brands
Geography: Europe, UK, and Turkey
Focus: PET and polyolefins feedstock for chemical recycling
Challenge
Global plastics producers and converters face a growing need to secure reliable, cost-effective feedstock for planned chemical recycling projects, but face significant hurdles:
Companies lack sufficient industry knowledge on the waste management ecosystem to understand options and costs.
Emerging low-quality waste streams (e.g. trays, textiles, and mixed polyolefins) require new collection partnerships and sorting infrastructure to scale.
The partnership ecosystem is fragmented and often opaque, esp. in less developed markets in Europe and near East.
Three of our clients targeted securing 150,000 tons per year of chemical recycling feedstock. They needed clarity on where and when feedstock would be available, how costs could evolve, and what partnership pathways could unlock supply at scale.
Our Role
Since early 2023, we have supported these clients with a structured process:
Mapping feedstock availability across PET and polyolefins in Europe, the UK and Turkey, including forecasted volumes to 2030.
High-level business case assessment, including preferred streams, impact of regulation (SUPD, PPWR, EPR, DRS, etc.), available subsidies, indicative costs and volume estimates.
Partner screening, building longlists of 250+ waste managers, PROs, and innovators, narrowed to actionable shortlists via interviews and validation.
Identifying partnership models such as co-investments in sorting infrastructure or long-term offtake agreements.
Impact
Companies could advance initiatives internally with increased internal alignment and clear sourcing options.
Actionable recommendations for securing feedstock partnerships (partner shortlists, models).
Positioned clients as early movers in emerging waste streams.
By the Numbers
Feedstock mapped: > 13 million tons.
Accessible feedstock identified: 2.5 million tons.
~20 pre-qualified partners after validation (from 250+ screened).
Why It Matters
Building end-to-end value-chains is key to securing long-term circular feedstock, which itself is the foundation of the future circular economy. It is also required for planned chemical recycling projects to succeed.
We bridge strategy to execution. Our circular economy practice specializes in strategy, partnership development, procurement aggregation and infrastructure financing for material sorting & recycling, with proven experience and ecosystems in plastics, tyre, and other hard-to-recycle waste streams across Europe and Asia.
