Zeon Corporation completed construction of a recycling plant for cyclo olefin polymers (ZEONEX® and ZEONOR®) at its Takaoka Plant (Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture). Zeon is set to begin recycling its own products for the first time, while the plant will not only further differentiate Zeon’s COP products, but also contribute to the realization of a sustainable society by reducing CO2 emissions.
The plant will recycle waste resin generated when processing COP into film. COP film (ZeonorFilm®) is widely used as retardation film for displays, taking advantage of unrivaled properties such as excellent optical stability and low water absorbency. For this reason, recycled resin to be used as raw material must be as high in quality as original resin, which had been difficult for conventional recycling technologies to achieve and maintain transparency and high purity.
As per the press release, Zeon’s groundbreaking technology has made it possible to produce recycled resin with the same level of quality as original resin. Zeon plans to reuse the recycled resin to manufacture optical films in response to the robust demand that is expected to continue.
