ALBIS and DECATHLON have collaborated on a project to develop a portable beach volleyball stand using entirely post-consumer plastic, utilising material from LyondellBasell‘s Circulen product range to significantly lower its CO2 footprint.
The portable sports article from DECATHLON, French sports and outdoor retailer, is specially designed for use on the beach and is scoring points with sturdy workmanship, robust mechanical properties, consistent quality and compliance with the toxicity requirements. At the same time, the goal was to also reduce the carbon footprint of the product as much as possible.
After in-depth analysis, the decision was made to use CirculenRecover polymers, which is part of the LyondellBasell Circulen product range supporting the reduction of plastic waste through the use of recycled content. CirculenRecover products are made entirely of used post-consumer plastics, which are sorted, shredded, washed, mixed and compounded. This process converts mixed plastic waste back into HDPE raw material.
Anne Le Duc, Material Manager at DECATHLON, said:
“The chosen solution ensures our quality requirements for the products in our portfolio, enables a competitive price-performance ratio and also reduces CO2 emissions compared to virgin HDPE. We are happy that post-consumer plastic can be used for a sports article instead of ending up in the ocean. The mentality around plastic waste needs to change.
“In cooperation with the ALBIS team, we have already proven several times that plastic waste is a valuable resource. We are also working with developers to ensure that the plastic article can be recycled again and again.”
Sylvain Rambour, who led the project at ALBIS, added:
“This project is a good example of how ALBIS operates: together with our customer, we selected the optimal solution for the specific application from our comprehensive product range.
“ALBIS is committed to developing sustainable projects and promoting the circular economy. Thanks to our long-standing cooperation with DECATHLON and our supplier LyondellBasell, we are pleased to present this new success story for converting plastic waste into a valuable new product.
“In this application, sports, plastics and sustainability come together to create a perfect synergy for health, enjoyment and environmental friendliness through targeted recycling management.”
Hans Videler, Marketing & Asset Manager at LyondellBasell, commented:
“LyondellBasell’s goal is to produce and market two million metric tons of recycled and renewable-based polymers annually by 2030. Our CirculenRecover products are a key element in our Circulen polymer family, which helps to improve the sustainability of consumer products. CirculenRecover allows for a reduction of up to 70% in CO2eq emissions compared to the usage of equivalent fossil-based grades*.
“We are pleased that thanks to this material and our value chain collaboration with ALBIS and Decathlon, we have been able to bring another sustainable solution to life that meets end customer needs. We are looking forward to many more of these collaborations.”
*The results are based on an internal study conducted by QCP on LyondellBasell’s Moplen and Hostalen grades and were not undertaken in compliance with ISO standards.
