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Mitsui Chemicals signs MOU with Shell for ethylene derived from plastic waste

| By Mary Bailey

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shell Eastern Petroleum (Pte) Ltd, a Singapore registered company, to agree on a supply of ethylene derived from plastic waste. In turn, Prime Polymer Co., Ltd. – part of the Mitsui Chemicals Group – will begin efforts toward the production of chemically recycled polyethylene derived from plastic waste via subsidiary Prime Evolue Singapore Pte. Ltd.

International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, a globally applicable sustainability certification system, has issued Shell’s plastic-waste-derived ethylene ISCC PLUS certification, which finds wide use as a system for certifying biomass-based and recycled raw materials. This ethylene can then be used via the mass balance method – a trusted approach based on ISCC PLUS certification – to enable the creation of polyethylene that is derived from plastic waste while still providing the same properties as more conventional polyethylene. Prime Evolue Singapore will leverage this ethylene to supply plastic-waste-derived circular polyethylene as a new part of the Evolue lineup it manufactures and sells. Evolue materials have come to be used in a wide range of applications, both in Japan and overseas. The material has found particular use in the realm of high-performance packaging materials for food and daily necessities.