Jorge Witte

Petgas Recycle is introducing its plastic waste solutions to the GCC, hoping it can corner a niche while boosting the region’s green credentials.

Could you talk about the opportunities in the Middle East and GCC, and what motivated you to introduce Petgas Recycle to the region?

Through our collaboration, Horizon Energy Group, which has investments in many sectors, and especially in the energy sector, was immediately attracted to this technology. Therefore, when this alternative came out and we started talking to the team, Horizon was also very interested; this is how the project began. Despite the advanced development of the UAE and other first-world countries in terms of culture, cities, organization, and government, plastic waste is still a problem everywhere due to lack of proper understanding and inadequate capacity to process it efficiently. As an example, in the UAE there are unfortunately several reports that even camels—a national symbol—die from ingesting plastic waste. Given that waste is a worldwide problem, regardless of whether the country is advanced or not, Petgas Recycle has been established to try to help raise ecological awareness. Our goal is not to sell production plants, but to help create a final solution for the serious issue of how plastic waste impacts the ecosystem and our lives in general.

What reaction have you received from the business community?

Unfortunately, many people think that plastic waste is not in demand, and that, worldwide, there is no competitive market for waste plastics. Recyclers separating garbage and plastic waste, more than anything, want access to high-quality plastics, that is, things that can be recycled and that have a high commercial value. the recyclers extract the high-quality plastics,at the end of this entire chain of segregation are single-use and end-of-life plastics: garbage bags, food packaging, and disposable plates used for fast food, etc. that and that is This type of plastic is destined for the landfills and the dump, but if those are not efficiently controlled, the waste plastic enters the ecosystem causing long term pollution. ,Petgas: the single-use, end-of-life waste plastic, and we transform it into high efficiency, non-fossil hydrocarbon fuels. After the installation of the first plants in the UAE, we are confident that the reception in all other countries will be equally important precisely because we have reached a useful final transformation process that no one else is addressing. One of the dynamics that exists in the Emirates and in other countries, especially in the GCC, is that of fair competition to enable the addressing of the wider problem beyond a commercial dimension. This is significant as some of the GCC countries are among the larger producers, per capita, of plastic waste together with the US, UK., Germany, Australia, and China.

You are working closely with Bee’ah. What is the nature of this partnership?

We are the final steps of completing our strategic alliance with Bee’ah in Sharjah, a world-recognized waste management company. Its material recovery facility is privately owned but works in conjunction with the state. The company is responsible for the collection, segregation, and recycling of all waste materials: from garbage to plastics and construction debris. We presented the project to their team, and they were interested, which has led to the strategic alliance. From Bee’ah, we obtain the raw material (waste plastic) to be transformed into high-efficiency fuels at facilities on their own land. Also, Bee’ah will receive, at a reduced cost, part of the diesel fuel generated, whereby its garbage collection system becomes more ecological, cleaner, and more efficient.