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PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. , (Representative Director, President & Chief Executive Officer: Daigo Iga , hereinafter referred to as “PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY”) a group company of JEPLAN, INC. (Representative Director, President & Chief Executive Officer: Masaki Takao , hereinafter referred to as “JEPLAN”), together with Miyakonojo City (Mayor: Takahisa Ikeda ), ITO EN CO., LTD.(President and CEO: Daisuke Honjo , hereinafter “ITO EN”), and Far East Ishizuka Green PET, Ltd., (President: Shinichi Yasuda , hereinafter “Far East Ishizuka Green PET”) signed a “Cooperation Agreement on PET Bottle Horizontal Recycling” on Wednesday, August 6 , with the aim of promoting the recycling of PET bottles in Japan. We are pleased to announce that the signing ceremony for the agreement was held on the same day.
Under this agreement, used PET bottles collected from households in Miyakonojo City will be recycled into raw materials for new PET bottles through a combination of two recycling methods: “chemical recycling (chemical regeneration method)*1” by PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY and “mechanical recycling (physical regeneration method)*2” by Far East Ishizuka Green PET. ITO EN will utilize these two recycling methods to manufacture and sell beverage products made with recycled PET resin. Through this collaboration, the four parties aim to improve the horizontal recycling rate of PET bottles. This initiative will not only reduce the consumption of petroleum-derived PET resin, which is the raw material for PET bottles, but also contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated during the manufacturing process.
Chemical recycling breaks down used PET bottles to the molecular level and removes impurities such as pigments and metals, so that PET products that are difficult to recycle with conventional recycling methods due to their shape or other reasons can be recycled into recycled PET resin of the same quality as that derived from petroleum. In this initiative, Far East Ishizuka Green PET will chemically recycle powdered PET components generated in the mechanical recycling process by PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY , thereby further improving the recycling rate compared to mechanical recycling alone. This two-step recycling method achieves a high horizontal recycling rate and promotes "bottle-to-bottle" resource recycling.
The JEPLAN Group will continue to promote collaboration with domestic and overseas partners to realize its mission of "We circulate our world," and the group as a whole will strive to drive the circular economy.
*1 A method to recycle PET bottles into raw materials of the same quality as petroleum-derived PET resin by breaking them down
to the molecular level, removing impurities, and polymerizing them.
*2 A method to recycle PET bottles by sorting, crushing, washing, and removing impurities under high temperature.
■ Conclusion ceremony of the " Cooperation Agreement on PET Bottle Horizontal Recycling”
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| (Photo provided by: Miyakonojo City) (From left to right) Mr. Kozo Nagata, Executive Officer , ITO EN CO., LTD.; Mr. Takahisa Ikeda, Mayor , Miyakonojo City; Mr. Ren Yen,General Manager , Sales Division, Far East Ishizuka Green PET, LTD.; Mr. Masaki Takao, Representative Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer, JEPLAN, INC.and Director, PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. |
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■ JEPLAN Group's Initiatives for Bottle to Bottle Recycling (https://bringbottle.jeplan.co.jp/)
| The JEPLAN Group is promoting bottle-to-bottle recycling initiatives in cooperation with local governments throughout Japan. Our goal is to create a society in which objects that have reached the end of their useful lives are recycled as valuable resources rather than as waste. As part of this initiative, we are implementing the "Welcome Back PET Bottle Action," an activity to collect PET bottles and recycle them back into PET bottles. In Japan, approximately 640,000 tons*1of PET bottles are manufactured and sold annually. The recycling rate is about 85%*2.However, only about 34%*3of PET bottles are recycled as PET bottles. We aim to recycle the remaining 66% of PET bottles as bottle-to-bottle recycling, and are working to further promote resource recycling. |
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| *1,2,3 PET Bottle Recycling Annual Report 2024 (PET Bottle Recycling Promotion Council): https://www.petbottle-rec.gr.jp/nenji/2024/2024.pdf |
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■ Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture (https://www.city.miyakonojo.miyazaki.jp/)
Mayor: Takahisa Ikeda
■ ITO EN CO., LTD. (https://www.itoen.co.jp/)
President and Representative Director, Executive Officer: Daisuke Honjo
■ Far East Ishizuka Green PET Corporation (https://www.figp.co.jp/)
President and Representative Director: Shinichi Yasuda
【The original press release is in Japanese】
【JEPLANプレスリリース】ペットリファインテクノロジーが、宮崎県都城市、伊藤園、遠東石塚グリーンペットとともに「ペットボトル水平リサイクル事業に係る連携協定」を締結.PDF