The Korea District Heating Corp. said Wednesday that it will launch a circular economy project to turn plastic waste into hydrogen.

According to the KDHC -- one of the world’s largest district heating companies that serves over 1.5 million customers here -- it has partnered up with the Korea Energy Agency, SK Ecoplant and GS Power to develop a city model of the circular economy where plastic waste is converted into oil, then finally into hydrogen.

The project will heat plastic waste until it melts and extract pyrolysis oil from it. The pyrolysis oil will be then processed into hydrogen.

“Through the partnership, we will co-launch viable eco-friendly business such as the waste-to-hydrogen project and contribute to the government’s carbon neutrality plans by converting waste piling up in the post COVID-19 era into energy,” KDHC President and CEO Hwang Chang-hwa said.