Prysmian, Versalis come together to give new life to plastic cable scrap

Prysmian and Versalis, Eni’s chemical company, have signed a strategic partnership to give new life to plastic cable scrap, through an innovative chemical recycling process, developing a dedicated supply chain.

Following this agreement, Prysmian will 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. Prysmian will then use these polymers in the production of new high-performance cables.

Energy cables can be insulated with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and other polymeric layers, which are difficult to recycle mechanically.

Thanks to Versalis’s ‘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.

For the first time in the cable industry a cross-linked cable with all polymeric layers together can be chemically recycled at scale, thus contributing to the creation of a virtuous circular cycle.

Srinivas Siripurapu, Chief Sustainability, Innovation and R&D Officer at Prysmian, held, “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.”

Fabio Assandri, Head of R&D, Licensing and Projects Development at Versalis, said, “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.”