NOVA Chemicals Slates First Mechanical Recycling Facility

Indiana plant to supply over 100 million pounds of recyclate for Syndigo recycled PE resin

NOVA Chemicals Corp. announced today (July 18) plans to develop its first mechanical recycling facility in Connersville, Ind.  

The plant will process post-consumer films at commercial scale for use in the company’s Syndigo recycled polyethylene (rPE) resin as soon as 2025. NOVA plans to supply more than 100 million pounds of rPE by 2026.  

NOVA, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, seeks to expand its recycling footprint to reach a corporate goal of 30 percent recycled content as a share of total PE sales by 2030.  

The Indiana facility will employ about 125. Connersville was selected for its access to abundant feedstock supply of post-consumer films from nearby metropolitan areas and easy-to-access rail service for distributing Syndigo rPE to customers.  

The facility will be operated by Novolex Holdings LLC, of Hartsville, S.C. Novolex, a major manufacturer of packaging products in plastics, paper and renewables for foodservice and industrial markets, operates 57 plants in six countries in North America and Europe. In addition to Connorsville, Novolex also runs state-of-the-art recycling plants in North Vernon, Ind., and Shawano, Wis.  

NOVA says the Novolex collaboration will increase the speed with which it ramps up rPE supply.  

NOVA Chemicals recently announced its 2030 Roadmap to Sustainability Leadership aspirations, which includes anticipated investment of between U.S.$2 billion-$4 billion by 2030 to expand sustainable product offerings, decarbonize assets and build a state-of-the-art mechanical recycling business while exploring new advanced recycling technologies.