SK Chemicals has announced that it will establish a joint venture with Kelinle, a plastics recycling specialist in Shaanxi Province, China, to build the Feedstock Innovation Center (FIC) facility for processing waste plastics.
The FIC will process waste plastics into feedstock. Among domestic chemical companies pursuing depolymerization-based chemical recycling, SK Chemicals claims it is the first in Korea to establish a corporate entity equipped with facilities for sourcing waste plastics.
The two companies plan to establish a process on an idle site of about 13,200 m² owned by Kelinle in Shaanxi Province, China, to convert waste into recycled raw materials. Kelinle will use its local network to procure feedstock, and PET pellets will be produced after pretreatment using SK Chemicals’ technology.
The FIC will be designed to convert end-of-life textiles such as discarded blankets and the fines generated during PET-bottle shredding into feedstock for chemical recycling. The facility is expected to start with an initial capacity of approximately 16,000 tonnes per year of PET pellets and is anticipated to increase to about 32,000 tonnes per year, supplying most of the feedstock required by SK Shantou.
SK Chemicals says its depolymerization-based circular recycling business breaks down waste plastics into molecular-level feedstock, which is then used to produce new plastics. The company adds that the FIC will primarily handle inputs that have typically been incinerated because they were difficult to use as recycled feedstock, enabling procurement at a lower cost than for clear PET bottles, which are easier to recycle.
The company’s analysis indicates that once the FIC is fully operational, it could secure a stable supply of feedstock for the circular recycling business and reduce waste plastic raw material costs by about 20%.
In related news, Vioneo teamed up with Lummus Technology in August to utilize its Novolen polypropylene (PP) technology for the ‘world’s first’ industrial scale fossil-free plastics production complex in Antwerp, Belgium, based on green methanol as feedstock. Apparently, the plastics produced will be ‘fully traceable and CO2 negative’, designed to allow customers to reduce their Scope 3 emissions.
More recently, TotalEnergies and CooperVision incorporated certified renewable polypropylene, derived from feedstock like sunflower and rapeseed oils, into blister packs for certain contact lens products. The polypropylene is part of TotalEnergies’ RE:newable range and, according to a Life Cycle Analysis, reduces 2.3 kg of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of polypropylene when used to replace the company’s fossil-based equivalent.
If you liked this story, you might also enjoy:
The ultimate guide to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in 2025
How are the top brands progressing on packaging sustainability?
Everything you need to know about global packaging sustainability regulation in 2025
The key to increasing the use of reusable packaging in supermarkets
No comments yet