Recycling Solutions Completes Relocation of the Microsphere Recycling Plant from the Donetsk Region

Recycling Solutions has relocated its microsphere processing plant to Burshtyn town, Ivano-Frankivsk region, and resumed production. Since 2014, the plant had been operating in Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, which became the combat zone since the beginning of full-scale invasion and is still under fire. The amount of investment in the new production launch amounted to USD 334,000.

Since March 2022, the team has gone through a challenging relocation process. Two tasks were performed simultaneously: evacuating all equipment and products from the danger zone and maintaining production capacity to fulfill customer orders in full. Microspheres were collected to provide raw materials for production at TPPs located in the government-controlled territory of Ukraine. Production was restored by temporarily leasing a production line in Lviv region that met the requirements for manufacturing products of the appropriate quality.

“The final commissioning of the line has been made, and the plant is up and running at full capacity. The new production stie was chosen taking into account the close proximity to the raw material collection areas. The key components of the line have been adapted to new realities of possible attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. Part of the team moved with the production, and local residents were hired to fill vacancies. We are currently recruiting for the second production shift. “Now the main goal is to reach the planned production capacities and sales volumes, – says Vadym Khoroshko, Director of the Construction Additives Department at Recycling Solutions. – We have also resumed operations of the laboratory in full, which is accredited according to all the necessary standards.”

Microsphere is an environmentally friendly raw material produced by burning coal at thermal power plants. After technological processing, it is used in many areas, such as mechanical engineering, paints and varnishes, construction, and backfill materials.

The fully automated production facility currently operates in one production shift with 7 employees. From February 2024, it is planned to work in two or three shifts, which will increase the staff to 13 employees. The plant’s production capacity is up to 2000 tons per year. The first batches from the new plant have already been shipped to customers in the Netherlands, Germany, and Turkey.

95% of the plant’s products are export-oriented, with the main markets being European countries and Turkey. In 2022-2023, no customers were lost, only production volumes decreased due to restricted access to raw materials at Ukrainian thermal power plants