Italian cabling giant Prysmian and Versalis, the chemical subsidiary of Italian energy giant Eni, have established a strategic partnership to give new life to plastic cable scrap through an innovative chemical recycling process.
Srinivas Siripurapu , Chief Sustainability, Innovation and R&D Officer at Prysmian, said: “ Thanks to this agreement, we will give new life to old scrap. The first pilot project will kick off in Italy in the second half of 2026, and this step-forward is another strong signal of our continued focus on finding new sustainable solutions for our customers, and the planet, as we help to reduce the environmental impact of our supply chain and reduce emissions .”
The partnership will see Prysmian collect plastic scrap from its own production as well as from decommissioned cables coming from major customers, while Versalis will use its Hoop technology at its Mantua plant, Italy, to transform the scrap first into a pyrolysis oil, and then into a new material for new plastic polymers, which will then be used by Prysmian in the production of new high-performance cables.
Thanks to the Hoop chemical recycling technology, Prysmian expects that about 60% of the XLPE scrap will be able to be repurposed into a reusable material for the production of new cables.
“ This collaboration with Prysmian is strategic and demonstrates how our research and advanced technologies can provide concrete solutions for managing the end-of-life of complex products. Thanks to this joint project, we actively contribute to making the industrial sector more sustainable and circular ,” said Fabio Assandri , Head of R&D, Licensing and Projects Development at Versalis.