Kobe Steel Ltd said it has signed an agreement with Belgian chemical and pharmaceutical firm Solvay SA to launch a plastics recycling business.
Under the agreement, the two firms will build two plastics recycling plants in Japan within two years and market recycled PVC. According to press reports, the joint operation could begin as early as next year.
The new PVC recycling business will operate under a joint company to be established by Kobe Steel, Solvay and other business partners, it said, adding the two are considering entering markets in China and other Asian countries.
Initially, the joint operation will collect, recycle and resell the PVC extracted from cable-coating material, using Solvay’s technology to separate the chemical from the industrial materials.
The plants will have a combined recycling capacity of 40,000 metric tons a year. The companies expect the two facilities to have sales of around $30 million for the first year.
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