Specialty material company Eastman has partnered with mechanical recycler Nord Pal Plast, a division of the Dentis Group.

The Dentis Group is an Italian multinational company specialising in the recovery and mechanical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging waste.

Through its mechanical recycling sites in France, Spain and Italy, Dentis will provide 30,000 metric tonnes per year of rejected PET post-consumer waste to Eastman. The materials will then be recycled at Eastman's molecular recycling facility in Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine, Normandy, France.

Eastman intends its Normandy facility to become the world's largest material-to-material molecular recycling plant. At full capacity the facility will recycle more than 200,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle polyester waste annually.

Dentis CEO Corrado Dentis commented: "This partnership creates a valuable platform towards PET waste reduction making mechanical and chemical recycling effectively complementary towards the achievements in European plastic recycling rates."

Eastman executive vice-president and CCO Brad Lich added: “With over 70% of the feedstock secured for our upcoming recycling plant in Normandy, including materials typically rejected by mechanical recyclers, this agreement represents a significant element of our feedstock availability and re-inforces our commitment to sustainable solutions."

In late 2023, Eastman worked with skincare company Neutrogena to develop a film-free, recyclable cosmetics packaging solution.