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LYB makes deal to bring new plastics recycling hub to German town

The hub will combine advanced sorting and recycling operations to address the plastic waste challenge. Photo courtesy of LYB

Houston-based chemical company LyondellBasell has signed a land lease agreement for a new integrated plastic waste recycling hub by an existing industrial park in Knapsack, Germany.

The agreement is with YNCORIS, a German industrial service provider. The hub will combine advanced sorting and recycling operations to address the plastic waste challenge and the company hopes it will grow the circular economy.

The first phase of the project will see the construction of an advanced sorting facility, which will process mixed plastic waste that can produce feedstock for mechanical and advanced recycling, since this mixed plastic waste is not recycled and usually sent to incineration for energy recovery. The hub's initial advanced sorting facility expects to start operations in the first quarter of 2026. The large facility will cover an area equivalent to 20 soccer fields.

"The industrial park in Knapsack is the ideal location for our integrated hub as is it close to our world-scale facilities in Wesseling and will allow us to develop additional technologies for the recycling of plastic waste," Yvonne van der Laan, LyondellBasell's executive vice president of circular and low carbon solutions, says in a news release. "The integration of various technologies will allow us to build scale and offer our customers a wide range of products from recycled and renewable resources."

In April, LyondellBasell also secured 208 megawatts of renewable energy capacity from a solar park in Germany. Under the 12-year deal, LyondellBasell aim s to purchase about 210 gigawatt-hours of solar power each year from Germany-based Encavis Asset Management.

By 2030, LyondellBasell hopes to produce and market at least 2 million metric tons of recycled and renewable‑based polymers annually.

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A View From HETI

ENGIE is partnering with Prometheus Hyperscale to develop liquid-cooled, AI-ready data centers in Texas. Photo via engie.com

Houston-based Engie North America has entered into an agreement with Wyoming-based Prometheus Hyperscale to develop liquid-cooled data centers at select renewable and battery storage energy facilities along Texas’ I-35 corridor. Its first AI-ready data center compute capacity sites are expected to go live in 2026.

“By leveraging our robust portfolio of wind, solar, and battery storage assets — combined with our commercial and industrial supply capabilities and deep trading expertise — we're providing integrated energy solutions that support scalable, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure," David Carroll, chief renewables officer and SVP of ENGIE North America, said in a news release.

Prometheus plans to use its high-efficiency, liquid-cooled data center infrastructure in conjunction with ENGIE's renewable and battery storage assets. Both companies believe they can meet the growing demand for reliable, sustainable compute capacity, which would support AI and other more demanding workloads.

"Prometheus is committed to developing sustainable, next-generation digital infrastructure for AI," Bernard Looney, chairman of Prometheus Hyperscale, said in the release. "We cannot do this alone—ENGIE's existing assets and expertise as a major player in the global energy transition make them a perfect partner as we work to build data centers that meet market needs today and tomorrow."

On-site power generation provider Conduit Power will assist Prometheus for near-term bridging and back-up solutions, and help tenants to offset project-related carbon emissions through established market-based mechanisms.

More locations are being planned for 2027 and beyond.

"Our collaboration with Prometheus demonstrates our shared approach to finding innovative approaches to developing, building and operating projects that solve real-world challenges,” Carroll added in the release.

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