TotalEnergies Produces ISCC PLUS Polystyrene Made from Recycle Residue at its Carville Plant

Houston, January, 16th 2025 – TotalEnergies Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. started production of sustainably certified polystyrene made from recycled residue at its Carville, Louisiana plant. This addition to our RE:clic product range of low-carbon polymers contributes to our ambition to produce 1 million tons of circular polymers by 2030.

Our Carville Polystyrene facility can collect and transfer ISCC PLUS certified residue that is purified and reworked by our styrene monomer plant, a joint venture with Cosmar. This allows us to preserve finite resources, lower our greenhouse gas emissions, save energy and reduce our carbon footprint.  Under this ISCC Plus certification the plant could also process circular benzene and circular ethylene. 

“TotalEnergies is committed to meeting the global market’s growing demand for more innovative and sustainable plastics, as well as in our global ambition to produce one million tons of circular polymers a year by 2030. ISCC Plus certification of our polystyrene manufacturing site processes is an integral part of ensuring our customers can confidently purchase circular polymers to achieve their own sustainability goals," said Heather Tomas, Vice President - Polymers Americas

The mass balance approach is used to ensure the amount of circular residue, which replace fossil resources, put into the system is equal to the amount taken out.  This method of certification allows to account for the exact proportion of sustainable material used in production and the quantity of recycled products generated. 

TotalEnergies uses ISCC PLUS to validate the mass balance scheme. ISCC PLUS is a voluntary international sustainability certification system, applicable to all types of sustainable feedstocks including residues, contributing to a circular economy. To guarantee full traceability and sustainability claims, all companies along a specific supply chain must be ISCC PLUS certified.