Clean-Seas, a subsidiary of Clean Vision Corporation, and London-based Roselle Capital have announced that they have entered into an agreement to form a joint venture in which both parties will collaborate to deploy Clean-Seas' pyrolysis technology in Asia to convert waste plastic into valuable commodities and/or clean energy.
An independent private equity firm, Roselle Capital is active in the development of Sabah Wellness Place medical facilities, a project across three regions including Malaysia, the Caucasus nation of Georgia and the UAE. The facilities are being designed according to the zero emissions concept, and include green energy and value-added plastic waste conversion.
Under the terms of the definitive JV agreement, Roselle has requested Clean-Seas to develop proposals to implement its pyrolysis technology for Malaysia and Georgia for installation in Sabah Wellness Place clinics, as well as elsewhere in those countries.
In 2020, Clean-Seas had submitted an initial proposal to the Malaysian State Government, which was then was put on hold due to Covid restrictions.
The company has now updated and resubmitted that proposal and a similar proposal for the government of Georgia. If accepted, Roselle will provide financing for the projects and the two parties will share in the projects' profits equally.
"We've long been intent on penetrating the projected $7 billion Asian marketplace with our industrial-scale pyrolysis tech plants that convert waste-plastic into valuable commodities and/or green energy,” said Dan Bates, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Vision.
"With global commerce and travel re-opening, and with Roselle well incented to finance and help shepherd our proposals in Asia through to fruition, 2021 is quickly shaping up to be a breakout year. Additionally," Mr. Bates said, "our Clean-Seas new business initiative in New England is continuing to gain traction."
The Asian waste-plastic pyrolysis market opportunity is both timely and huge. According to the 2018 Indore 3R Declaration of Asian Mayors on Achieving Clean Land, Clean Water and Clean Air in Cities, one of the commitments made there was to ‘Strive towards complete ban of illegal disposal of plastics in eco-sensitive or eco-fragile areas, including in tourist areas close to oceans, rivers, lakes, wetlands, other water bodies and mountains, to preserve coastal, marine and mountains ecosystems and resources, keeping in mind the widespread plastic littering which affects eco-systems’.
Moreover, as Shaun Wootton, a senior principal of Roselle Capital, pointed out, for countries such as Georgia and Malaysia, the environment plays an important role in their growing eco-tourism business and tourism overall.
"Countries such as Malaysia and Georgia are quite sensitive to Accordingly, the ability to build plants that convert waste plastic into commodities or energy - with a solid ROI and short payback period - makes doing business with Clean-Seas a win-win proposition,” he added.
A report from McKinsey and Company supports this view. According to this report "Plastics reuse and recycling could generate a profit-pool growth of as much as $60 billion for the (global) petrochemicals and plastics sector, a fourfold increase over what is achieved today." Asia is the second largest region at 12.1% ($7.26 billion), behind only China and twice that of North America. Of that global market, pyrolysis represents the largest process segment at 25.4%, over twice that of next-place monomer recycling.