Gr3n Recycling

Gr3n Recycling is a Switzerland-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling company that uses microwave-assisted alkaline hydrolysis to break down any type of PET and polyester plastic into its two core components: Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and mono ethylene glycol (MEG), which can then be re-assembled to obtain virgin-like plastics. Using electricity to break down PET waste takes three to five hours at 210°–250ºC, and transforming these materials without any fossil fuel materials into virgin-like plastics occurs within 10 minutes at temperatures below 200ºC.

It also operates a platform called “P-Turn,” which is organized into four phases: Mapping, building, connecting, and closing, to collect material such as polyester/polyester blends in an efficient and convenient way.

As of March 2024, the company operates a demonstration plant in Chieti, Italy, at a scale of 30,000 tons per year. In March 2024, the company also developed an industrial demonstration plant, utilizing their microwave-assisted technology, MADE, installed at GR3N’s research and manufacturing facility in Albese con Cassano. This plant includes a depolymerization reactor capable of processing 60 kg of PET per hour.

Key customers and partnerships

In August 2021, Gr3n signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kolon Industries, a Korean chemical and textile manufacturing company, to accelerate the commercialization and the implementation of Gr3n’s technology throughout Asia and expand Kolon’s sustainable plastic business. In April 2023, the company signed an MOU with Alcantara, an Italian lifestyle brand, to recover end-of-life raw materials and production waste through depolymerization to obtain virgin PET-like material for new applications after achieving positive pilot scale tests. The company continued its commercialization efforts, signing an MOU in July 2023 with its shareholder, Intecsa Industrial, a leading Spanish engineering company, to set up a joint venture and build a production facility in Spain with a capacity to produce around 40,000 tons of virgin PET chips from recycled monomers. The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase will start in Q4 2024 and is scheduled to be operational in 2027. 

Funding and financials

In March 2022, Gr3n Recycling received a CHF 2.5 million (~USD 2.8 million) grant from the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). In September 2021, the company raised EUR 6.3 million (~USD 6.9 million) in a Series B funding round from Chevron Technology Ventures and Standex International. The company intended to use the funds to further expand the company and commercialize its technology.