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Japan’s Polyplastics (U.S. office in Farmington, Mich.)  plans to construct a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) production facility in Leuna, Germany to meet the growing global demand for its Topas COC polymers. Topas COC has been certified as a recyclable polyolefin as part of the EU initiative for a circular economy.

To be operated by local Polyplastics subsidiary Topas Advanced Polymers GmbH, with startup slated for mid-2023, this plant will have a capacity of 40 million lb/yr, more than doubling the company’s current output. The company’s existing COC production plant is located in Oberhausen, Germany, about 245 miles west of Leuna. Since the opening of that plant in 2000, a broad range of applications for Topas COC has been developed. The material has become a crucial component in many medical devices based on its outstanding purity and glass-like properties.

In packaging products, Topas COC has raised the performance of commodity polyolefins, enabling the development of simpler, better recyclable and sustainable solutions. Mono-material structures based on PE enhanced with Topas COC have been shown to be more easily recyclable than multi-material solutions using layers of PET or other PE-incompatible polymers.