Braskem launches Upsyde to the market

Announced in 2022 and formed this year, the new joint venture aims to enhance the circular economy and will have the capacity to recycle 23,000 tons.

Braskem, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Braskem Netherlands B.V., and Terra Circular, a company focused on solid waste conversion, have launched Upsyde into the market. Upsyde is a company with patented and proprietary technology capable of converting hard-to-recycle plastic waste into circular products, implementing a creative and disruptive approach to dealing with these types of waste.

The launch comes one year after the announcement of the signing of the contract to establish the venture. The company operates with operational and financial independence, with Braskem holding a controlling stake of 60% and the possibility of expanding the use of the technology to other regions. Terra Circular contributed the shares of its subsidiary (formerly ER Plastics) to the joint venture. The company has the capacity to recycle 23,000 tons per year of mixed plastic waste into compression-molded products.

Upsyde’s facilities are located in Weert, Netherlands. The innovative and patented technology for recycling challenging plastic waste is used to produce durable consumer goods such as pallets, construction panels, road materials, asphalt mats, and heavy-duty carpets. Thus, Upsyde reconciles sustainability and innovation, contributing to a more sustainable future by offering circular solutions.

Upsyde’s products are part of Braskem Wenew’s circularity ecosystem, which encompasses the pillars of products, education, circular technology, and design. It consolidates all of the company’s initiatives focused on recycling and the circular economy under one umbrella. The creation of Upsyde is one of the projects that will help Braskem achieve its commitment to plastic waste disposal: to prevent 1.5 million tons of plastic waste from being sent to incineration, landfills, or being disposed of in the environment by 2030, and to commercialize 300,000 tons of products with recycled content by 2025 and 1 million tons of these products by 2030.