SK General Chemical to Build Plastic Waste Recycling Plant... Joint Venture with US Company

Cooperating with US PureCycle Technology... Recycling PP Plastic Waste Once Considered a 'Challenge'
Construction to Start by End of Next Year, Processing 50,000 Tons of PP from 2025

SK General Chemical President Na Kyung-su is signing an MOU with PureCycle Technologies CEO Mike Otworth through a video conference system at the SK Seorin Building in Jongno-gu.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] SK Geo Centric announced on the 12th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture with PureCycle Technologies, a U.S.-based plastic recycling company.

SK Geo Centric plans to establish a joint venture with the company to begin construction of a recycling plant in South Korea by the end of next year, aiming for commercial operation starting in 2025. Through this, it plans to recycle approximately 50,000 tons of polypropylene (PP) plastic waste annually to produce PP with product value as high as new products previously manufactured through chemical processes, and will continuously expand production capacity.

In particular, SK Geo Centric has secured technological competitiveness in producing high value-added materials such as high-strength PP, widely used as lightweight automotive interior materials, and it is expected that eco-friendly PP obtained through recycling will be used to manufacture automotive parts in the future.

SK Geo Centric has secured the "three core competencies" of chemical recycling of plastics through this collaboration, in addition to pyrolysis oil technology that heats waste vinyl to obtain raw materials such as naphtha, and depolymerization technology that chemically breaks down contaminated PET bottles and textiles for recycling. Chemical recycling technology overcomes the limitations of physical recycling, which weakens plastic properties such as strength with repeated recycling and cannot be recycled repeatedly. It also has significance in improving environmental issues by recycling plastic waste that previously had to be incinerated or landfilled.

PureCycle Technologies is a company listed on the U.S. Nasdaq in March this year. It specializes in recycling PP, a type of plastic widely used in packaging containers and vehicle interiors.

PP-based plastics are known to be difficult to recycle due to the mixture of various materials and additives. The company solved this challenge with a technology that applies high temperature and pressure to a solvent to create a state between gas and liquid, then penetrates it through the structure of waste plastic to remove contaminants. This allows obtaining pure PP without impurities. Contaminated food containers, colored detergent containers, and automotive plastic interior materials that were previously incinerated or landfilled because they could not be recycled can now be recycled.

SK Geo Centric aims to generate more than KRW 600 billion in EBITDA from green businesses by 2025, based on securing global leading technology in chemical recycling and various eco-friendly solution capabilities based on the 3R (Recycle, Replace, Reduce) principle. By 2027, the company plans to recycle more than 2.5 million tons, equivalent to 100% of the plastic volume it produces annually. Furthermore, it plans to produce only eco-friendly plastic products that can be 100% recycled.

Na Kyungsoo, CEO of SK Geo Centric, emphasized, "This collaboration is a step to transform the company's business structure from carbon to green and become a leading ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) company," adding, "We will complete a virtuous cycle of waste plastic resources and open a new horizon as an eco-friendly chemical company."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.