Suez, LyondellBasell Sign Agreement to Produce Recycled Plastics

Suez SA (SEV.FR) said Monday that it signed an agreement with LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) to produce recycled plastics in Europe.

Suez will be a 50/50 partner with LyondellBasell in QCP BV, a high-standard plastics recovering company near Maastricht in the Netherlands, the French waste management company said. QCP's governance was previously composed of Suez (45%), QCP managers (20%) and financial investors (35%).

The company said that the transaction is subject to regulatory approval, which both entities are seeking by the end of the year. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This partnership represents a new step in Suez plastics strategy in Europe, and it will help to reach our objective to process 600,000 tons of plastic waste in 2020," Chief Executive Jean-Marc Boursier said.

The production capacity target of the plant near Maastricht will be 35,000 tons in 2018 and 50,000 tons before 2020, the company said. LyondellBasell will market QCP materials under the new agreement and Suez will be in charge of feeding the plant with post-consumer plastic waste, it said.

Suez said that plastics recycling is a key market for the company. It currently operates nine specialist facilities in Europe, in which it processes 400,000 tons of plastic waste and produces 150,000 tons of new plastic resources per year.

QCP produces high-quality raw materials for the plastics industry and was founded in 2014.

Write to Marc Bisbal Arias at marc.bisbalarias@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2017 09:59 ET (14:59 GMT)