Gazprom Neft has commissioned a facility in the city of Gatchina, located in the Leningrad Region, to transform plastic packaging waste into secondary polymer granules. This project, as announced by the company’s press service, marks a significant step in advancing material circularity within Russia’s plastics sector.
The new complex is designed for an annual throughput of 8.6 thousand tons. It delivers a complete processing cycle for plastic packaging made from polypropylene and polyethylene, producing base materials that are ready for immediate reuse in manufacturing processes.
The resulting polymer granules will be distributed to manufacturers of plastic products. Gazprom Neft also intends to deploy a portion of these recycled materials for its own operational needs, including the production of waterproofing materials used in industrial and civil construction projects.
Environmental stewardship at the facility is ensured by a closed-loop water purification system. Filtration equipment captures microplastic particles, cleans the water, and returns it to the production loop, minimizing waste and conserving resources.
Igor Korolev, head of Gazprom Neft Petrochemical and LPG Department, stated that by 2030 the company aims to make the use of recycled granules completely self-contained within Gazprom Neft’s operations. He noted that the annual volume of recycled polymer output could reach 3.2 thousand tons, reinforcing the company’s commitment to circular economy principles.
Korolev emphasized that utilizing recycled raw materials reduces costs and lowers environmental impact. He described the packaging material recycling project as a pivotal step in expanding the country’s circular economy and expressed that the full volume of plastic produced by Gazprom Neft and its partners will be redirected back into the production cycle using these recycled inputs.