Dutch chemical recycler Fuenix Ecogy declares bankruptcy, becoming the seventh in 2024 amid industry-wide financial struggles and uncertain recycling economics.
Fuenix Ecogy, a chemical recycling company based in Weert, the Netherlands, has officially declared bankruptcy, joining a growing list of Dutch plastic recyclers facing financial collapse. The bankruptcy was declared by the court of Roermond on July 2, 2025, following a request from creditors. As of now, Fuenix has not disclosed any detailed statements regarding the circumstances that led to its insolvency.
Founded with a vision to transform plastic waste into valuable resources, Fuenix launched its pyrolysis operations in 2019 with a processing capacity of 4,000 tonnes per year. Pyrolysis is a chemical recycling process that breaks down plastic waste at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, converting it into pyrolysis oil—a feedstock for new plastic production. In 2021, Fuenix expanded its plant, increasing its annual processing capacity to 16,000 tonnes, reflecting both confidence in the technology and rising demand for circular plastic solutions.
In 2023, Fuenix began supplying pyrolysis oil to global materials science company Dow. The collaboration was considered a milestone in creating a circular economy for plastics, with Dow using the oil to produce circular plastics that meet stringent quality and regulatory standards. That same year, Swiss industrial engineering group Sulzer acquired a stake in Fuenix. This investment was aimed at commercializing and scaling Fuenix’s pyrolysis technology on a global scale. Sulzer’s involvement was expected to lend both technological and financial strength to the recycler’s expansion efforts.
Fuenix had touted its integrated pyrolysis technology as a game-changer in the chemical recycling space. The company claimed that its process could achieve yields of over 80% and maintain capital expenditure (capex) costs at less than €1,000 per tonne—a figure considered competitive within the recycling sector.
Despite these promising developments, Fuenix has now succumbed to bankruptcy amid a wave of financial distress sweeping through the Dutch plastics recycling sector. The company is the seventh such recycler in the Netherlands to face insolvency in 2024 alone. Other notable companies that have gone bankrupt this year include Stiphout Plastics, Blue Cycle, Vinylrecycling, Ioniqa, and Umincorp. Interestingly, Ioniqa has recently announced plans to relaunch its operations, raising hopes that some distressed firms may recover under restructured models.
The collapse of Fuenix marks a significant setback in the Netherlands’ broader efforts to scale up advanced plastic recycling. It also underscores the volatile financial landscape of chemical recycling technologies, which remain capital-intensive and sensitive to market dynamics, policy shifts, and supply chain bottlenecks.
