A Belgian-Dutch start-up for recycling and upgrading plastic waste is taking a 15-hectare concession in the Port of Ostend. APPI wants to start in 2026 with annual maritime traffic of 500,000 tonnes, a third of the current port total.
Belgian-Dutch start-up Advanced Plastic Purification International NV (APPI) signed an agreement for a 15-hectare concession. This is located in the circular cluster at the Plassendale zone. It concerns the land around GFS Terminals’ three storage tanks between the Ostend-Bruges Canal and Marie Curielaan.
APPI plans to build from the end of 2024 to be operational in 2026. There, the company will sort, clean and process discarded plastics into raw materials for new plastic applications and products. In addition, the process will be largely self-sufficient in energy and CO2-neutral.
500,000 tonnes per year
APPI initially envisages a total supply and discharge by ship of 500,000 tonnes per year. That is a third of the current 1.5 million tonnes in the entire Port of Ostend. The company expects to create 110 jobs.
“The arrival of APPI fits perfectly within our strategy to accommodate sustainable maritime growth markets,” says Port of Ostend CEO Dirk Declerk. “The circular cluster, which has since taken firm shape, brings companies together in one zone in the port area. The companies we attract share their knowledge, strengthen each other’s supply and demand and attract new players.”
Plastic back to oil
“In Haven Oostende, we found a thinking and pragmatic partner with a clear vision for an integrated circular cluster,” says Boudewijn van Vliet of APPI. “Such a breeding ground is essential for the success of our socially relevant and necessary project. This is based on existing, proven efficient technologies that will be applied on a significant scale.”
APPI is a start-up but Boudewijn van Vliet (51) has a background in international trading and commodity flow management at companies including Cargill, Citi Group and Mercuria Energy Group. Since 2021, he has been a director in Dutch listed (Euronext) company Pryme, which develops technology for chemical recycling of plastics. Pryme’s largest shareholders include Swiss, Norwegian and US banks. The company has an R&D centre in Ghent and will commission its first in-house plant Pryme One in Rotterdam this year. There, plastic waste will be converted into petrochemical oil, for which a purchase contract was signed with Shell.
