Ube Industries to produce recycled colored plastics

Ube Industries plans to produce recycled colored plastics and is aiming for sales of Yen1.5bn ($12.5m/EUR10m) in 2011 from the new business, the Japanese chemicals producer said in a statement on Thursday. The method, named UBE-Composite, was developed by the company in 2003.

It takes colored plastic waste, changes their colors, and creates recycled plastic with a superb surface appearance. Ube had developed a technology to recolor plastic waste into a desirable color by using compound coloring technology and to make the adulterated substances less visible, the company said. They had built a small compound plant for recycling with a capacity of1,600 tonnes/year in Sakai, Osaka, and had explored the market, it added.

Samples of recycled plastic using this method have been sent to electronics and automobile manufacturers. After a series of inspections, these manufacturers recently decided to accept Ube's technology, the company said.

The recycled plastic made from the plastic waste with different colors would be applied to the visible parts of washing machines and refrigerators, and the colored plastic pieces from the recovered bumpers of cars would be made into console boxes in car interiors, the company said.