SCG and Dow team up on plastic recycling

Dow Chemical of the U.S. and SCG have agreed to collaborate on a feasibility study on a plastic waste recycling and renewable feedstock facility in Thailand’s fast-growing Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

“This collaboration expects to operate mechanical and feedstock recycling from plastic resins, plastic waste, and petrochemical feedstocks,” said Roongrote Rangsiyopash, CEO and President of SCG, the region’s largest building materials company.

“It is a business opportunity for SCG and Dow to embrace the circular economy concept, bringing practical solutions for recycling and upcycling of plastic waste to Thailand,” he added.

SCG has become the leading private-sector proponent of adopting the Circular Economy in Thailand. In the Linear Economy that has dominated history, people take natural resources and turn them into products that eventually end up on the trash heap. But these days, resources are dwindling, and the trash is becoming unmanageable.

In the Circular Economy, people use natural resources more responsibly and sparingly to make products that can be recycled or broken down so their elements can be reused. The Circular Economy is an essential model in sustainable development.

Jim Fitterling, Dow’s chief executive, said the company could provide its recycling technologies to support more collaborative ventures in Thailand.

“The plastics are too valuable to be lost as waste, so they should be a part of the circular economy concept. Dow expects that plastic waste locally can be recycled for this operation at roughly 200,000-300,000 tons per year in the near future,” he said.

Dow also partners with SCG to make roads using a new form of asphalt that has plastic waste mixed in. Studies have shown the roads to be more durable, stable, and water-resistant.

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