SK Geocentric Forms Strategic Partnership with US Company to Expand Plastic Recycling Business

680 Billion KRW Equity Investment in US Recycling Company PureCycle

On the 15th, SK Geocentric announced that it has made an equity investment of 55 million USD (approximately 68 billion KRW) in PureCycle Technologies, a plastic recycling company. Na Kyung-soo, President of SK Geocentric (right in the photo), visited PureCycle's production plant in the United States in November 2021 and took a commemorative photo with Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle. Photo by Na Kyung-soo

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] SK Geocentric is expanding its plastic recycling business by partnering with a U.S. company.

SK Geocentric announced on the 15th that it has made an equity investment of $55 million (approximately 68 billion KRW) in PureCycle Technologies, a plastic recycling company.

PureCycle possesses technology that uses solvents to remove contaminants, odors, and colors from waste plastic to produce ultra-high-purity recycled polypropylene. It plans to complete a production plant in Ohio, USA, with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons in the fourth quarter of this year, and will break ground this month on a second plant in Georgia with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons.

SK Geocentric will participate as a strategic partner in PureCycle through equity investment and plans to jointly promote global expansion.

Both companies expect to significantly contribute to improving recycling rates by reducing the amount of plastic incinerated or landfilled and recycling it into polypropylene of new product quality.

SK Geocentric signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for establishing a production plant in Korea last January and decided to become a strategic partner of PureCycle through this investment. The decision was made after comprehensively considering the results of technology verification, marketing strategy discussions, and growth potential conducted so far.

Additionally, the two companies plan to establish a joint venture (JV) in Korea within this year and begin construction of a plant, aiming to build plastic recycling production facilities in the Ulsan Mipo National Industrial Complex by the end of 2024. The high-purity recycled polypropylene produced in this process, which can process 64,000 tons of waste plastic annually, will be exclusively sold domestically by SK Geocentric, and they will jointly pursue business expansion into China and Southeast Asia in the future.

Polypropylene is used in automotive interior materials, home appliances, food packaging containers, toys, and household goods, accounting for 25% of total plastic demand. However, due to limitations in removing odors, colors, and impurities through physical recycling, the recycling rate remains below 5%.

Na Kyung-soo, President of SK Geocentric, said, "Along with pyrolysis and depolymerization, we have secured differentiated technology in the three major chemical recycling methods. We will accelerate the creation of domestic and international recycle clusters in line with the growing global demand for recycled polypropylene and lead the plastic circular economy."

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