Quality Circular Polymers to invest 75 million Euros for polymer recycling plant in Limburg

Specifications:

Name:

Quality Circular Polymers to invest 75 million Euros for polymer recycling plant in Limburg

Location:

Limburg

Company:

Quality Circular Polymers

Estimated Cost:

75 million Euros

Source:

chemelot.nl

Large sustainable plastics plant in Limburg

QCP is building a plastics plant at the Chemelot Industrial Park in Sittard-Geleen.
QCP - which stands for ‘Quality Circular Polymers’ - is a new company that will produce high-quality raw materials for the plastics industry on the basis of used plastics from households and industry. A total of 75 million Euros will be invested in this pioneering project, which will make a significant contribution to employment in the region.

QCP is an initiative of entrepreneurs Huub Meessen and Marc Houtermans, both with extensive experience in the petrochemical industry. QCP has become a strong consortium that includes SITA, Chemelot Ventures and NV Industriebank LIOF, in addition to the initiators. Co-financiers are Rabobank, the Limburg Energy Fund, the city of Sittard-Geleen and the Province of Limburg. The commercial building is funded by company Langen from Elsloo. Valuable support to the initiative was provided by the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) and the Nederlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA.

The annual production capacity will eventually amount to 100,000 tons. The factory will be realised in three phases. The total investment is about 75 million Euros, of which over 35 million Euros are for the first phase. At the start-up of the factory in late 2015, a total of 40 direct jobs will be created. After full completion of the factory, there will be 100 jobs. It is expected that 200 to 300 indirect jobs will also be created.

                                                                   http://www.liof.nl/

Circular economy

Huub Meessen, CEO and founder of QCP, tells us that there is a huge need among consumers for sustainable plastics. This is reflected in a growing demand from major brand manufacturers and plastics processors: "We will develop products together with customers, which will enable them to replace conventional oil-based plastics in high-end applications. The knowledge and laboratories at the Chemelot Campus will assist us here.”

Factory of the future

QCP aims to achieve a ‘factory of the future’: a production site where, on the basis of used plastics, new products that may replace the conventional plastics in high-quality applications are made in an innovative manner. Marc Houtermans, co-founder and COO of QCP: “By combining the knowledge of the participating parties with investments in research and development, we are able to produce large volumes of these materials, with a constant quality. This is unique to the European market.”

“For us it was immediately clear that we needed a strategic party that has access to raw materials. This party we found in SITA, part of the international group SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT. We also find it important that the other investors are local parties, so that the yield remains in the region. They can also support us substantively through their network”, Meessen adds.

Closing the chain

With its participation, SITA - one of the largest shareholders in the factory - strengthens its position in the plastics chain and gives substance to its mission to further close the waste chain with its partners. As director of the plastics chain - from collection and transhipment to processing and recycling of plastic (packaging) materials from households and industry - SITA has access to the raw materials. “We are very pleased with our participation in QCP. With this, we take the next step in making used plastics suitable for use as raw materials, and we can expand our activities with the industrial production of recycled plastic materials”, says Herman Snellink, COO Waste Flow Management & Recyclables of SITA (NEWS).“A substantial portion of the plastic materials that are processed in this factory, comes from the sorting plant for plastic packaging of SITA in Rotterdam. This is the first and only plant in the Netherlands that sorts plastic packaging recycled by households for further processing”, Snellink explains. The plastic materials also come from industrial customers. “The industry and government have an increasing need for recycled plastics that are transformed into new raw materials, which can be used for new products. By delivering the raw materials back to our industrial customers, we close the chain.”

Important growth market

There is a great demand for the final product of QCP. The annual demand for plastics in Europe is about 50 million tons. Partly as a result of new regulations, there is increasing interest in the recycling of plastic packaging materials to reduce the negative environmental impacts thereof. Major customers include the packaging industry, construction industry, electronics and the automotive industry. The factory will be located in the industrial complex Chemelot in Sittard-Geleen. This location is characterized as a ‘hotspot’ in the field of plastics. The factory will be built in the heart of the country triangle of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and is a very central base for the sales market in Europe, which QCP intends to serve.

                              https://chemicalparks.eu

Local energy

The Province of Limburg, the Limburg Energy Fund, the city of Sittard-Geleen and DSM Nederland have played a constructive role in bringing this initiative to Chemelot and Southern Netherlands. “QCP is a new company in a key growth market. This project will give a major boost to the top sector Chemistry and Materials and to sustainable development in Limburg. It is the first investment of Chemelot Ventures and one of the largest investments of LIOF in recent years. It is a significant investment in a promising company, with direct volume, scale, mass and impact. This is a company with great potential, in a top location. At the same time this is an illustration of the excellent business climate that Industrial Park Chemelot and Chemelot Campus offer as a combination”, says Jéròme Verhagen, general director of NV Industriebank LIOF and member of the Board of Commissioners of Chemelot Ventures.

“We are very proud that QCP has chosen Chemelot Industrial Park. It is a company that fits in perfectly with existing activities. Plastics have always been developed and produced on Chemelot. QPC will make sure that this happens based on used plastics, which makes it less dependent on gas or oil”, said Aad Brouwer, director of Chemelot with DSM Nederland.

Boost employment in the region

B&W of Sittard-Geleen has consulted the municipal council to invest one million euros in QCP, partly as a grant, partly as a guarantee. For councillor Pieter Meekels (economics) of the municipality Sittard-Geleen, the employment is of great importance: “This will provide us with 400 direct and indirect jobs. Which is very important to us as a municipality. Moreover we see that the investments we made in Chemelot – especially in the area of infrastructure – now yield returns. Thanks to these investments the environment will hardly notice the additional traffic movements and the quality of life in our communities and neighbourhoods will not be affected.”

The Province of Limburg acts as co-financier, because other leading parties have committed themselves explicitly to the factory. “At the same time, the involvement of the Province has convinced other financiers to participate”, said Twan Beurskens, Limburg Commissioner of Economic Affairs and Land. The Province is investing a million in the factory, partly as grant, partly as loan. The Limburg Energy Fund of the Province is also providing a loan of a million. The construction of the factory makes an important contribution to employment in the region.