If your company constantly generates plastic in its processes, that waste does not have to leave the plant as a cost. Pyrolysis lets you recover it at source, turn it into an oil with a guaranteed buyer and close the loop inside your own facility. This article explains which industries meet the conditions, what volume and characterisation are needed, how it fits with plastic taxation and what it adds to sustainability reporting.
What captive plastic waste is
We call captive waste the plastic a company generates recurrently through its own activity, in a stable and well-known stream. It does not depend on municipal collection or on whatever reaches a landfill. It comes off the company’s own production line or out of its own logistics operation, every week, in similar quantities.
That stability is what makes it interesting. A predictable stream makes it possible to size a plant, calculate its output and sign long-term sales contracts. An erratic stream, by contrast, complicates any investment.
Which sectors generate captive waste
The profile repeats itself across very different industries. These are the most common cases:
- Packaging manufacturing. Trimmings, line start-ups, defective reels, non-conforming material and multilayer films that are hard to recycle mechanically.
- Automotive and its suppliers. Rejected parts, component packaging, protective covers and mixed engineering plastics.
- Agri-food. Packaging films, trays, packaging rejected on the line and agricultural plastic linked to the supply chain.
- Logistics and distribution. Pallet stretch film, strapping, wrapping and secondary packaging from large volumes of goods.
- Other processing industries with plastic process losses: chemicals, technical textiles, household appliances or construction.
In all of them the pattern is the same: plastic that no longer serves its original purpose, that is often mixed or contaminated and that today leaves the plant bound for an external waste manager.
The problem with depending on external waste managers
Outsourcing waste management looks like the simplest option, but it carries costs that grow over time:
- Rising fees. The waste manager passes on its own costs, including Spain’s tax on the landfilling, incineration and co-incineration of waste, in force since 2023.
- Dependence. The company has no control over the price, the collection frequency or the final destination.
- Limited traceability. It is hard to prove what happens to each tonne, something that weighs more and more in audits and reporting.
- Regulatory risk. European legislation is pushing to reduce landfilling and increase recovery, which makes disposal routes more expensive.
The full analysis of this cost curve is in the real cost of not recovering waste up to 2030.
Recovering at source with pyrolysis
Pyrolysis breaks plastic down with heat in the absence of oxygen. The waste is not burned: the long polymer chains are broken and the result is pyrolysis oil, gas and char. It is a form of chemical recycling, different from mechanical recycling because it does not require clean plastic sorted by type. The difference is explained in what chemical recycling is and how it differs from mechanical recycling.
Installed next to the factory, a pyrolysis plant brings four advantages:
- Independence from waste managers and their fees.
- A closed, auditable circular economy within the industrial process itself.
- Full traceability of every tonne, from the moment it is generated until it is transformed.
- Revenue from the output: the oil is sold and certified circular content carries additional value.
To learn about the products and their uses, see what pyrolysis generates and what it is for.
Requirements: volume and characterisation
Not every company with plastic waste needs its own plant. There are two preconditions worth reviewing before talking about investment.
Volume
Nantek’s modular plants range from 1,500 to 16,000 tonnes a year. That range sets the benchmark: a company whose annual stream comes close to the smallest module, or that can aggregate it with other plants in the same group or on the same industrial estate, is a candidate for a study. Below that volume, the sensible thing is to consider other routes.
Characterisation
Beyond how many tonnes, what is in them matters. A basic assessment covers:
| Data point | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Polymer types present and approximate proportion | Determines oil yield and quality |
| Moisture and dirt | Affects energy consumption and pre-treatment |
| Contaminants: metals, paper, organic residues | Defines the preparation required beforehand |
| Regularity of the stream throughout the year | Allows storage and the plant to be sized |
| Current management cost per tonne | It is the basis of the financial case |
Nantek’s technology accepts mixed plastic without prior sorting by type, which greatly simplifies the industrial scenario, where mixtures are the norm.
Plastic taxation: what Spain’s Law 7/2022 says
Spain’s Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy created the special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging, in force since 1 January 2023. Its key points:
- What it taxes: the manufacture, import and intra-Community acquisition of non-reusable packaging containing plastic, of its semi-finished products, such as preforms or sheets, and of plastic products intended to close or present that packaging.
- Rate: 0.45 euros per kilogram.
- Tax base: only non-recycled plastic. The amount of recycled plastic is not taxed if it is proven.
- Volume exemption: for imports and intra-Community acquisitions, when non-recycled plastic does not exceed 5 kilos a month.
Where chemical recycling fits
The law provides that chemically recycled plastic be proven by means of a certificate from an accredited body. Spain’s Directorate General for Taxation (DGT) confirmed this in binding ruling V0931-25, of May 2025, and added that, if no accredited certification scheme exists, the recycled content can be proven by the general means set out in Spain’s General Tax Law.
The practical implication matters for packaging manufacturers and for those who import packaging: plastic that returns to the chain through certified chemical recycling reduces the tax base. It is worth bearing in mind when designing the destination of the oil and the certification strategy, which we detail in ISCC PLUS and environmental credits. Each case should be reviewed with the company’s tax adviser.
On top of this comes Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste, applicable from 12 August 2026, which sets minimum recycled content for plastic packaging from 2030: 30 % in contact-sensitive PET packaging, 10 % in other contact-sensitive plastics and 35 % in the rest. Demand for recycled plastic is going to grow by obligation.
ESG and CSRD reporting: what recovery at source adds
The Omnibus I Directive, Directive (EU) 2026/470, published in February 2026, has narrowed the scope of the CSRD to companies with more than 1,000 employees on average and more than 450 million euros in turnover. In Spain transposition is still pending, and in the meantime the non-financial information statement under Spain’s Law 11/2018 applies.
Even if your company falls below the threshold, your large customers are probably within it and will ask you for data. The European circular economy standard, ESRS E5, requires reporting on total waste generated, the proportion diverted from disposal (through reuse, recycling or other recovery operations) and the proportion directed to disposal (incineration, landfill or other).
An in-house pyrolysis plant turns that information into your own measured, traceable data, instead of relying on a third party’s certificate. It is a strong argument with customers, auditors and financiers.
How Nantek solves it
Nantek does not just sell technology. It delivers the complete project so that industry does not have to become a waste manager:
- Proven technology: thermal pyrolysis without catalysts, with proprietary reactive agents, validated since 2022 at the industrial plant in the Port of Bilbao with plastics from different sources.
- Modular plants from 1,500 to 16,000 tonnes a year, sized to your real stream.
- Turnkey EPC with fixed scope and price.
- Structured financing of up to 70 %.
- Operation and maintenance with remote control and proprietary software.
- Guaranteed offtake of 100 % of the product with long-term contracts.
- Certification management for environmental credits, with part of the net profit passed on to the client.
Nantek holds ISCC, ISCC PLUS and CGN certifications and ECHA registration. You can find out more in the Nantek model and in how a pyrolysis plant is financed.
Frequently asked questions about pyrolysis for industry with captive waste
What minimum volume of plastic waste is needed?
Nantek’s modular plants start at 1,500 tonnes a year. That is the benchmark for assessing whether an in-house plant makes sense, either alone or by aggregating streams from several facilities.
Does the plastic need to be sorted by type?
No. Nantek’s technology accepts mixed plastic without prior sorting by type. It is still advisable to characterise the waste in order to size the plant.
Does pyrolysis reduce the plastic packaging tax?
The tax applies only to non-recycled plastic. Chemically recycled plastic proven with a certificate from an accredited body is not part of the tax base. Its effect depends on each company’s position in the chain and should be reviewed by its tax adviser.
Is my company required to report under the CSRD?
Following the Omnibus I Directive, only companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than 450 million euros in turnover. Even so, many suppliers receive data requests from customers who are required to report.
Who operates the plant?
Nantek provides operation and maintenance with remote control and proprietary software, so the company does not have to build a specialised team.
What happens to the oil the plant produces?
Nantek guarantees the purchase of 100 % of the product with long-term contracts.
If your plant generates plastic on a recurring basis and you want to know whether recovering it at source makes sense, ask Nantek for an assessment. We review your volume, your characterisation and your current management cost, and tell you with numbers whether the project fits.
