MBA Polymers and Guangzhou Iron and Steel Form Joint Venture

The new company will process highly mixed plastics resulting from the legislated take-back and recycling of durable goods, such as appliances and electrical equipment. China is expected to implement extended-producer-responsibility legislation similar to the take-back programs in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the European Union regulating the recycling of these products.

MBA, which owns 55 percent of the joint venture operation, has operated several generations of a large pilot plant at it Richmond headquarters for more than six years, producing and selling plastics on a commercial scale. The new plant, however, will be the first large-scale commercial plant that uses MBA’s advanced technology.

GISE and MBA held the announcement and the formal signing of the joint venture agreement at the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou Jan. 9.

MBA CEO and co-founder Mike Biddle said, “China is the second largest consumer of plastics in the world and imports more plastics than any country in the world. Its need for plastics is also growing faster than any country in the world. Rather than build expensive and energy-consuming chemical plants, our company provides a way for China to make the plastics it needs for its growth but at significantly lower economic and environmental costs.”

Richard McCombs, president and CFO of MBA Polymers, lead the team to develop the relationship with GISE and to carry out the negotiations. “We are extremely pleased to be launching this business with our highly respected partner, GISE,” McCombs said. “We have been very impressed with the GISE team and have already tested our ‘chemistry’ by working long days and nights to ensure that we could complete this deal before Chinese New Year, including negotiations up to a few hours before the signing.”

MBA is considered the world leader in the recycling of plastics from end-of-life durable products. In 2002, MBA won the Edison Award for Innovation and was identified as one of America’s most innovating companies by Inc. Magazine. (For more information on MBA Poylmers, see the profile in the November 2002 issue of Recycling Today.)

GISE, with sales of more than $1 billion in U.S. dollars annually, is the largest steel producer in southern China. In addition to operating steel mills, GISE was the first company in China to establish a metal shredding and recycling operation and is the largest importer of scrap steel in southern China.