March 27, 2026 12:48

PureCycle Technologies, the US company behind a high-purity polypropylene recycling process, has signed a €40 million grant agreement with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) under the Innovation Fund to support the Astra PP project.

The project involves the construction at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium of PureCycle Technologies’ first European polypropylene dissolution recycling plant, a project first announced in 2022. Production capacity is expected to reach around 60,000 tonnes/year of recycled material (PureFive resins), with the potential to increase over time to 240,000 t/y.

“This grant from the Innovation Fund is a significant validation of our dissolution recycling technology and Europe’s commitment to building a truly circular economy for plastics,” said Dustin Olson, CEO of PureCycle (pictured). “The Antwerp facility represents PureCycle’s strategic expansion into one of the world’s most demanding regulatory environments for sustainability, and this funding supports our goal of delivering recycled polypropylene at scale to European brand owners and manufacturers.”

Originally developed by Procter & Gamble, the PureCycle purification process uses solvent-based technology to remove odours, pigments and other contaminants from plastic waste. The result is an “ultra-pure recycled polypropylene” (UPR), marketed under the PureFive brand, for applications where recycled polyolefins have so far struggled to gain traction, such as consumer goods packaging, design items and home furnishings.

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