Technological watch

Neste RE is a 100% renewable and recycled raw material that helps replace virgin fossil feedstock in the production of plastics and chemicals for a wide range of applications from toys to healthcare. Photo: Neste.



Neste is launching a new product, Neste RE, a 100% renewable and recycled raw material for plastics and chemicals production. It is a product for tackling climate change through reducing the need to use virgin fossil resources, while it also provides a new solution to the end-of-life related challenges the polymers and chemicals industries are facing today. Neste RE can be used in a wide range of plastics applications, from sports gear to toys, even in sensitive applications such as high-performing medical equipment. Neste RE makes it possible to use bio-based waste and residues and waste plastic in the manufacture of high-quality products.

World’s economy is only 8.6% circular today (source: Circular bioeconomy study, 2020, WBCSD & BCG). The urgency to move towards a truly circular economy is high (source: IPCC Global warming report) and will deserve a variety of different technologies. Neste has a decade-long experience in developing and producing renewable and circular solutions for transportation, and is now extending its offering to the polymers and chemicals sectors. With this, Neste supports the reduction of crude oil dependency by providing more sustainable alternatives to the currently used virgin fossil-based feedstock in plastics and chemicals production.

“We need to take drastic action to achieve the necessary change towards a circular economy in materials. With Neste RE, we combine the best of renewable and recycled materials, to serve as a sustainable feedstock alternative for the polymers and chemicals sectors. This new product provides a new solution for the industry to close the circle of material flows. Neste RE is available globally, and together with like-minded partners, we can use Neste RE as a tool to change and revolutionize plastics,” says Lars Börger, Vice President of Renewable Polymers & Chemicals at Neste.

A fresh start for plasticsNeste RE is both renewable and recycled: the product’s renewable components can be produced from waste and residue oils and fats and sustainably-produced vegetable oils. The recycled component is produced from chemically-recycled plastic waste that cannot be recycled mechanically, such as colored, multilayer or multi material packaging.

The more fossil resource based content is replaced with content from renewable or recycled origins, the better for our planet. In 2018, over 29 million tons of post-consumer plastic waste was collected in Europe, and of this, only 9.4 million tons was directed to recycling (source: Plastics Europe) – even less actually recycled. Furthermore, the share of global oil production used to produce plastics, which is currently 6%, may reach 20% by 2050 (source: New Plastics Economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation). To tackle these numbers by accelerating the plastics industry’s transformation towards a circular bioeconomy, urgent action is required, collaboration among some of the industry forerunners playing a key role.

Neste’s collaborations are already bearing fruit: In 2019, Neste collaborated with LyondellBasell to produce the world’s first commercial-scale volumes of renewable, bio-based polypropylene. And in March 2020, Neste collaborated with Borealis to produce renewable polypropylene with renewable propane at a propane dehydrogenation facility for the first time in history. Clariant added an entire range of additives based on Neste RE. Together with Recycling Technologies and Unilever, Neste combines expertise to test and validate systems to chemically recycle waste plastics. In a strategic cooperation with Covestro, Neste is promoting the use of sustainable raw materials in plastics production, particularly in the production of polycarbonates. And, together with Jockey, Neste has a collaboration with a target to develop the market for rigid packaging from sustainable renewable and recycled materials for food and non-food applications.

Neste RE is available worldwide to the polymers and chemicals value chain including brands wishing to add bio-based and recycled content to their offering. Neste RE is a drop-in solution compatible with existing polymers and chemicals production infrastructures. Materials produced with Neste RE are of high quality – identical to plastic products made out of virgin fossil feedstock, e.g. recyclable similarly to their virgin fossil counterparts.

About NesteNeste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki) creates solutions for combating climate change and accelerating a shift to a circular economy. We refine waste, residues and innovative raw materials into renewable fuels and sustainable feedstock for plastics and other materials. We are the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, developing chemical recycling to combat the plastic waste challenge. We aim at helping customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with our renewable and circular solutions by at least 20 million tons annually by 2030. As a technologically advanced refiner of high-quality oil products with a commitment to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, we are also introducing renewable and recycled raw materials such as waste plastic as refinery raw materials. We have consistently been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices and the Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable companies. In 2019, Neste’s revenue stood at EUR 15.8 billion, with 82% of the company’s comparable operating profit coming from renewable products.

Source: Neste, press release, 2020-11-26.