On October 18th, German material manufacturer Covestro announced that its world's first dedicated production line for physically recycled (MCR) polycarbonate (PC) has been officially put into operation at its Shanghai integration base, producing more than 25,000 tons of high-quality polycarbonate with physically recycled content annually. 25,000 tons is equivalent to about 125 million laptop computer top covers.
According to the disclosure, Costco plans to supply more than 60,000 tons of recycled and reclaimed polycarbonate annually in the Asia-Pacific region by 2026 to meet the strong market demand. Particularly for applications in the electrical and electronics, automotive and consumer goods sectors.
In addition, the company has retrofitted an existing co-blending line at its Mathafu site in Thailand with the ability to produce physically recovered polycarbonate. A series of retrofit programs, including projects to add new production lines in Thailand, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as at the Greater Noida site in India, have collectively added more than 100,000 tons of annual polycarbonate production capacity to Costco's Asia-Pacific operations.
Polycarbonate is a kind of engineering plastics with excellent comprehensive performance, which is widely used in the fields of electronic and electrical appliances, medical supplies, building energy-saving, automobile parts, etc. The recycling of its waste has been a major concern at home and abroad.
In addition to physical recycling, Crestron is also developing chemical recycling of polycarbonate.
