Construction firms Kajima Corp., Taisei Corp. and Shimizu Corp. said Tuesday they have formed a joint venture to develop and sell recycled building materials.
Green Materials Recycle Corp., to open for business in September, will sell building materials recycled from plastic waste as its first product, the firms said. The materials were developed by steelmaker NKK Corp.
The move is part of a campaign launched by major construction firms to promote the use of recycled materials at a time when an increasing number of new buildings are generating building waste.
The joint venture will be capitalized at 80 million yen and owned 50 percent by Kajima, 40 percent by Taisei and 10 percent by Shimizu.
The materials developed by NKK are concrete mold panels made from recycled plastic bottles. Such panels are normally made of plywood, but the recycled version is about 10 percent cheaper, the three firms said.
The new venture plans to sell 2 million panels annually with revenues reaching 1 billion yen in three years.