BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 12. French energy major TotalEnergies has become the sole owner of the Grandpuits advanced plastics recycling plant in France, strengthening its position in the emerging market for chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.
As part of a restructuring of Plastic Energy's shareholding, TotalEnergies said it has agreed to acquire the remaining 35% stake in the Grandpuits facility from Plastic Energy's new shareholder. TotalEnergies previously owned 65% of the plant.
Located in Seine-et-Marne, the facility began production in March 2026 and has an annual capacity to process 15,000 metric tons of plastic waste. The transaction gives TotalEnergies full control of a facility that is designed to address one of the key challenges facing the plastics industry: recycling waste that cannot be effectively processed through conventional mechanical recycling.
Turning hard-to-recycle plastic waste into new plastics
The Grandpuits plant processes plastic waste collected from French households, including waste placed in yellow recycling bins. Much of this material is currently destined for landfill or incineration because it is too contaminated, mixed or technically difficult to recycle mechanically. The facility uses pyrolysis, a process in which plastic waste is heated to high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment. The process breaks the plastic down into a synthetic oil that can subsequently be used as a circular feedstock by the petrochemical industry.
The resulting feedstock can replace part of the fossil-based raw materials traditionally used to manufacture plastics.
An important feature of the technology is that the recycled material can be used to manufacture plastics with properties comparable to those produced from virgin feedstocks. TotalEnergies says the resulting recycled plastics can meet demanding requirements, including applications involving food contact and medical products.
This creates a route for plastic waste that would otherwise have limited recovery options to be returned to the plastics production cycle.
In 2023, TotalEnergies signed an agreement with French recycling and waste-management companies Citeo and Paprec to secure a long-term supply of plastic waste for the Grandpuits facility.
Part of a broader circular economy strategy
The Grandpuits project forms part of TotalEnergies' broader effort to build a circular economy around its energy and petrochemical businesses.
The company describes the circular economy as an integral part of its strategy for the energy transition and says it is using circular feedstocks across several areas, including plastics, biofuels and biogas.
“The circular economy is an integral part of the transition strategy that TotalEnergies is pursuing,” the company said, adding that it aims to become “a world-class player” in the energy transition while working toward carbon neutrality together with society.
For plastics, the strategy is increasingly focused on increasing the availability of recycled and alternative feedstocks and developing technologies capable of processing waste streams that cannot be handled through mechanical recycling.
Advanced recycling, also known as chemical recycling, is particularly relevant to mixed or contaminated plastic waste. Unlike mechanical recycling, which generally involves sorting, washing, shredding and remelting plastics, chemical recycling can break polymers down into chemical feedstocks that can be used again in the production of new plastics.
TotalEnergies targets larger circular polymer production
TotalEnergies has set an ambition to produce 1 million metric tons of circular polymers per year by 2030, combining recycled and renewable feedstocks. The company is developing several routes to achieve this objective, including mechanical recycling, advanced recycling and the use of renewable feedstocks. The approach is intended to reduce dependence on virgin fossil-based raw materials while maintaining the performance characteristics required for many industrial and consumer applications.
TotalEnergies' strategy also extends beyond plastics recycling. The company says it is seeking to increase the recovery and reuse of waste generated by its own operations, with a target of recovering at least 70% of its production waste. It has been developing waste-management contracts and partnerships with waste-treatment companies in countries where it operates.
Waste also being converted into biogas and biofuels
The company's circular-economy strategy includes the conversion of organic waste into energy products. At TotalEnergies' La Mède biorefinery in France, for example, a biomethanization unit allows the facility to recover almost 90% of the waste it generates in the form of biogas and digestate. The digestate can be used as an organic soil improver in agriculture.
TotalEnergies is also increasing the use of waste oils and animal fats as feedstocks for biofuel production. The company has said it aims to source more than 75% of the feedstocks for its biofuel production from waste oils and animal fats, compared with around 50% previously. Using waste and residues from the food industry can also reduce potential competition for agricultural land associated with some conventional biofuel feedstocks.
TotalEnergies said it stopped sourcing palm oil and its derivatives in 2022. The company has also entered into an agreement with Saria, a major European company specializing in the collection and recovery of organic materials, to supply circular feedstocks such as used cooking oils and animal fats to its future Grandpuits biorefinery.
TotalEnergies is also developing biogas production from organic waste. Biogas is generated through the decomposition of organic material and consists primarily of methane. TotalEnergies has been developing partnerships with companies in agriculture, waste management and wastewater treatment to secure feedstock for biogas production. The company has previously set targets for increasing its biogas output, with agricultural waste expected to represent an important source of feedstock.
