Yle questions Corsair’s recycling claims and crypto token

Yle found unresolved questions about the finances of Corsair Group and its crypto asset, the CSR token, as it investigated the company’s promises to turn plastic waste into a profitable business. Corsair has a factory in Jämsä, a town in Central Finland, and Yle reported that its equipment was listed on Alibaba.

The company says it plans to collect plastic waste in Finland and abroad and process it into oil using pyrolysis. The Jämsä factory has received public funding from allocations intended to address the town’s sudden structural change. It is operating under a trial permit and does not yet have an environmental permit to begin full operations.

Pyrolysis heats solid plastic until it becomes oil. Corsair says its process can turn 1,000 kilograms of plastic into 1,000 litres of oil, which it says it sells to companies such as Shell. However, pyrolysis also produces carbon and gases, and the method has struggled to become commercially viable. Plastic made from pyrolysis oil currently costs at least twice as much as new plastic made from oil, according to the article, limiting demand.

Corsair also promotes the CSR token, which it describes as a digital receipt linked to plastic recycling. Network members market opportunities to earn the token and offset plastic consumption to consumers and businesses. The company says the token’s value will rise substantially.

Yle attended a Corsair networking event in Helsinki and a factory visit in Jämsä last June to examine the company’s claims to potential investors. It said it took part in the event without telling organisers that a journalist would be present, citing the issue’s public significance. Corsair declined Yle’s request for an interview and has not allowed the broadcaster onto the factory grounds.

At the Helsinki event, Andrea Cerio, a Corsair network member, urged attendees to invest their time and money in the network. Yle reported that Cerio had received a conviction in Italy a few years earlier related to marketing Corsair investment services and promising high returns.

Yle has previously investigated Corsair’s links to OneCoin, a pyramid scheme in which Finns lost tens of millions of euros.