LyondellBasell (LYB) has announced it became full owner of APK AG in Merseburg, Germany. APK will be fully integrated and continue as part of LYB, a sustainability leader in the chemical industry. It is LYB’s ambition to further develop the company’s unique solvent-based technology for low density polyethylene (LDPE) and build commercial plants in the future. This will enable LYB to produce new high-purity materials that can be used in applications like flexible packaging for personal care products, meeting the demands of customers and brand owners.

"We are excited to complete the acquisition of solvent-based recycling technology company APK, securing the future of more than a hundred employees and adding another solution for our customers to meet their circularity ambitions and goals,” says Yvonne van der Laan, LYB executive vice president of circular and low carbon solutions. “This technology complements our excellent mechanical recycling technology, as well as our proprietary advanced recycling technology. We see this as a crucial addition to our portfolio on our journey to a circular economy, helping end plastic waste.”

The closing of the APK acquisition is another proof point of how LYB creates solutions for a better tomorrow, following the foundation stone laying of its first industrial-scale MoReTec plant for catalytic advanced recycling in Wesseling on September 19 with German Chancellor Scholz. With these investments, LYB aims to address rising demand for more sustainable solutions from customers and society.

“We are incredibly pleased to be part of LYB. LYB offers great expertise, career opportunities and financial strength to lift the company to the next level,” says Maik Pusch, former director of corporate development at APK AG and integration lead. “I am convinced this combination will help our technology reach its full potential, as well as securing a promising future for our employees.”

The recycling technology is a unique solvent-based kind for low density polyethylene (LDPE). LYB aims to increase the recycling of hard-to-recycle flexible plastic waste materials – which today make up most of the mixed plastic waste from the consumer sector. The materials produced will be sold under LYB’s Circulen portfolio.

In March 2023 LYB revealed its pivotal new company strategy aimed at establishing LYB as an industry leader in sustainability. LYB has formulated ambitious plans to create access to best-in-class innovative and differentiated technologies as a key element of its new strategy and formed a dedicated circular and low carbon solutions (CLCS) business. CLCS has started to make substantial investments upstream in plastic-waste sorting and recycling operations in Europe, the United States and Asia.