Petrochemical firm Total has introduced a new range of HDPE products under the brand name Circular Compounds that contain high levels of recycled content. The materials, which are targeted at packaging applications, offer a performance equal to or exceeding that of virgin resins, thus actively contributing to the circular economy.

“Total is currently extending the applications of the recycled compounds concept by developing additional new grades, since we believe it will be essential to place the European virgin plastics industry in a new yet essential role as ‘circularity enhancer’,” explained Jean Viallefont, Vice President Polymers Europe.

The new range consists of HDPE polymer products, in natural color, that, says the company, cover all the manufacturing needs for blow-molded bottles and heavy-duty containers for household and industrial liquids with a guarantee of 25 percent or 50 percent minimum of Post Consumer Recyclate (PCR). Total’s initial production capacity of HDPE Circular Compounds amounts to 20 kT, coming fully on stream during the course of 2017.

The composition and manufacturing process of these Circular Compounds is especially designed to minimize their environmental footprint. Their recycled content originates from post-consumer household waste collected in Western European countries and is recycled by selected partners chosen by Total for their outstanding product quality and recycling process capabilities. In its Antwerp plant, Total applies a last deep decontamination step, which transforms the PCR into fragrance-free resin.

The PCR is compounded in Total’s plant with highly technological HDPE virgin products, specifically designed and produced as intermediate resins in order to overcompensate for any lack of performance and consistency of the PCR.

“The resulting compounds are meant to be fully equivalent to any virgin resin sold in the same application, but in reality they largely outperform them in all key aspects for their application,” said the company.

“Total’s objective is to enable downstream industries to rely on recycled materials and to achieve this, we are currently developing additional new grades for a wide variety of applications.”