Ineos has entered into a long-term agreement with Finland’s UPM BioVerno for the supply of renewable feedstock to make new bio-attributed polymers in Cologne, Germany.

The raw material is made from a residue of wood pulp processing and will be used in a variety of plastic products, ranging from food packaging to medical items and pipes, including Biovyn, which Ineos said is the world’s first commercially available bio-attributed PVC.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials has certified each step in the process, starting from UPM Biofuels converting the wood-based residue (crude tall oil) into hydrocarbons, through to the final polymer.

Ineos said the move will contribute to a significant reduction in its carbon emissions and support a more circular approach to its olefins and polymers production.

In separate news, Ineos Olefins & Polymers has entered into a partnership with Italian polymer recycling company Forever Plast. The companies have developed a range of new PE grades that Ineos said mirror its virgin grades and “perfectly fit” injection moulding and compression moulding machines.

The Recycl-IN products are made from recycled bottle caps, which are blended with highly engineered virgin polymer to create new caps. Ineos said that over the next five years, 6.5 billion bottle caps will be diverted from the waste stream and recycled

“For a while PET bottles have been increasingly recycled but this is one of the first circular developments to tackle the caps. This is a major step forward,” said Iain Hogan, CEO of Ineos Olefins and Polymers South.

The company is now expanding its range of Recycl-IN polymers into the PE non-food caps market.