The Vinyloop unit in Japan has moved to a further concrete step (see the previous news on the topic, dated January 15th 2004).

The plant will produce 18.000 t of regenerated PVC compound from a total of more than 20.000 of wastes: cable waste, agricultural sheets from greenhouses.

In January 2005, the lincensing agreements were signed: Solvay provides the basis for the design, while Kobelco Eco Solutions provides the engineering and the construction services. The construction began in March 2005,  the mechanical completion and the commissioning have been completed in March and April 2006. The first batch has been produced in May 2006. After several problems, the run test (as foreseen in the license agreement) has been successfully performed with agricultural sheets in July 2007. 

Solvay owns 10% of the Joint Venture, Kobelco Vinyloop East, which operates the unit in Chiba (South east of Tokyo), while Kobelco Eco Solutions owns 90%.