Americas Styrenics (AmSty) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Encina Development Group, LLC (The Woodlands, Tex.) that will provide the opportunity to purchase up to 250,000 tons per year of circular feedstocks from Encina’s facilities.
Amsty and Encina enter in MOU (photo courtesy of Amsty)
In addition, AmSty has signed a formal long-term offtake agreement for the purchase of circular feedstocks from Encina’s first U.S. commercial plant in Pennsylvania, anticipated to come into production in early 2025. These circular feedstocks will then be available for purchase as recycled content credits, based on the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) mass-balance system. As each new Encina plant comes online, AmSty plans to enter into additional offtake agreements to purchase circular feedstocks from those facilities.
Encina produces circular materials using a proprietary advanced recycling technology that, unlike traditional mechanical recycling, works at the molecular level. The polymer chains are split apart and converted back into their original chemical building blocks, which can then be reused to make new products.
AmSty has committed to a 2030 goal that all polystyrene products designed for food packaging applications will contain at least 30% recycled content.
“This new collaboration is vital to helping AmSty meet that goal and demonstrates our total commitment to a sustainable future across all of our market segments. It is truly a victory for brand owners and converters seeking sustainable packaging and consumer products that are part of a circular economy,” said Randy Pogue, PhD, AmSty president and CEO.
“AmSty is one of the world’s leading styrenics companies and has been at the forefront of sustainability innovation within the chemicals industry for more than a decade,” said David Schwedel, executive director, Encina. “Our agreements with AmSty enable Encina to assist them and their customers to deliver on fulfilling both their circular economy and sustainability goals.”
This will empower companies from across AmSty’s portfolio to offer recyclable, sustainable products with the exact same quality and performance that customers have come to expect, noted Tim Barnette, AmSty vice president of polymers and sustainability.
“Now is the time for market leaders to join forces with us to commit to introducing circular polystyrene products at scale,” said Barnette. “We have been working diligently toward this moment and are now ready to move forward commercializing PolyRenew® credits in a big way.”
“We’re excited to be working with AmSty, a company that shares our vision of getting to a world where nothing is wasted,” said David Roesser, chief executive officer of Encina, which, like AmSty, is based in The Woodlands, Texas. “Increasingly, customers are demanding sustainable practices across the product supply chain and life cycle. The feedstocks we manufacture reduce waste, offset the need to produce virgin materials and help manufacturers achieve carbon neutral goals as we transition to a circular economy.”