ExxonMobil has completed its first commercial sale of certified circular polymers, using its Exxtend technology for advanced recycling of plastic waste. The purchaser is Berry Global, a leading provider of innovative packaging and engineered products, which will use the circular polymers to manufacture containers for high-performance food-grade packaging on a mass balance approach.

“We are scaling up our advanced recycling capabilities around the world to manufacture more circular products for our customers,” says Karen McKee, president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “Our Exxtend technology helps us meet the growing demand for certified circular polymers, particularly in food contact applications where plastic products provide key sustainability benefits.”

Exxtend technology helps expand the range of plastic materials that society recycles, while maintaining the performance of products over multiple recycling loops. Product quality and performance of the certified circular polymers are identical to polymers produced from virgin raw materials, increasing the variety and number of customer applications.

“We have ambitious sustainable packaging goals that include achieving 30% circular content across our fast-moving consumer goods packaging by 2030,” says Tarun Manroa, chief strategy officer of Berry Global. “Advanced recycling can help our customers meet their sustainability goals and accelerate the move to a more circular economy. Collaboration across the value chain is critical to achieving this.”

The initial sale of certified circular polymers is based on plastic waste processed at ExxonMobil’s advanced recycling facility at its integrated site in Baytown, Texas. The facility began operations in 2021 and has already processed more than four million pounds of plastic waste.

The operation in Baytown will be among North America’s largest advanced plastic waste recycling facilities with a capacity to recycle 30,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year when its expansion is complete later this year. Leveraging ExxonMobil’s existing assets, the company’s advanced recycling capabilities can be rapidly scaled to process a wide range of plastic waste. To help meet the growing market demand for certified circular plastics, ExxonMobil plans to increase its annual advanced recycling capacity to 500,000 metric tons, or approximately 1 billion pounds, by year-end 2026 across multiple sites globally.

The company has obtained certifications through the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification Plus (ISCC PLUS) process for several of its facilities including Baytown. ISCC PLUS is widely recognized by industry as an effective system to certify the circularity of products based on advanced recycling using mass balance attribution of plastic waste.