The company’s primary goal is to establish facilities to process 900,000 t/y of plastic waste, which is equal to its annual domestic plastic production, by 2025, ramping up to 2.5 million t/y by 2027. It plans to invest about 5 trillion Korean won by 2025, both in South Korea and internationally, which will also include expanding capacity for green materials.

In addition, the Seoul-based group proposes to recycle 2.5 million t/y of plastic waste. It has signed Memoranda of Understanding with undisclosed domestic and international partners while it develops its own pyrolysis post-processing technology. Based on collaborations with overseas partners that own chemical recycling technologies such as solvent extraction, depolymerization and pyrolysis, SK Geo Centric intends to invest in plants both within and outside South Korea.

Furthermore, by working with the South Korean government and SMEs throughout the recycling chain, the company said it will build a recycling cluster that can process PE, PP, PET and complex materials.

“The plastic recycling market will grow by 12% by 2030, and the plastic waste market size is expected to reach 600 trillion Korean won by 2050. This implies that there is much room for growth,” said Na. “In the year 2025, we will create 600 billion Korean won in EBITDA from the eco-friendly and recycling sector to offset existing businesses, and also become a completely green company, even from a financial standpoint.”

SK Geo Centric will also increase production of eco-friendly materials from 500,000 t/y to 1.9 million t/y by 2025, and use bio-oil and pyrolysis oil in its plastics production rather than petroleum-based raw materials. 

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist