JEPLAN Group: PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY, four municipalities in Hokkaido, Asahi Soft Drinks Co.,Ltd Signed “Agreement on Implementation of Horizontal PET Bottle Recycling” with four municipalities in Hokkaido, Asahi Soft Drinks, and Japan Tec Co.,Ltd － Bottle to Bottle Recycling Collaboration Promotes PET Bottle Recycling in Japan － - JEPLAN, INC.

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PET REFINE TEDHNOLOGY Co., Ltd. (Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Daigo Iga; hereinafter “PET REFINE TEDHNOLOGY”), a group company of JEPLAN, INC. (Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Masaki Takao; hereinafter "JEPLAN"), has entered into a “Agreement on Implementation of Horizontal PET Bottle Recycling” on February 9 with Nakafurano Town (Mayor: Kiyoshi Komatsuda), Furano City (Mayor: Taketoshi Kita), Minamifurano Town (Mayor: Hideki Takahashi), Shimukappu Village (Mayor: Masaharu Tanaka), Asahi Soft Drinks Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director: Taichi YONEME; hereinafter “Asahi Soft Drinks”), and Japan Tech Co., Ltd. (President: Eiichi Furusawa; hereinafter “Japan Tech”), with the aim of promoting circular use of PET bottles in Japan. A signing ceremony for the agreement was also held on the same day.

Under the agreement, used PET bottles collected from households in the four municipalities will be recycled as raw materials for new PET bottles by combining two recycling methods: chemical recycling *¹by PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY and mechanical recycling *²by Japan Tech, and recycled as raw materials for new PET bottles. Asahi Soft Drinks will utilize these two recycling methods to manufacture and sell beverage products that use recycled PET resin. The seven parties will work together to improve the horizontal recycling rate of PET bottles. This initiative will not only reduce consumption of PET resin, a petroleum-derived resource that is the raw material for PET bottles, but will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated in the manufacturing process.

Chemical recycling breaks down used PET bottles to the molecular level and removes impurities such as dyes and metals, so that PET products that are difficult to recycle with conventional recycling due to their shape or other reasons can be recycled into recycled PET resin of quality equivalent to that derived from petroleum. In this initiative, PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY will chemically recycle the powdered PET components generated in the mechanical recycling process conducted by Japan TEC, 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 re cycle PET bottles into raw materials of the same quality as petroleum-derived PET resin through a process of 
breaking them down to the molecular level, removing impurities, and polymerizing them. 
*² Recycling PET bottles by sorting, crushing, washing, and removing impurities under high temperature.

■ Signing ceremony for the horizontal recycling of PET bottles

(from left to right) Shimukappu Village Mayor: Mr. Masaharu Tanaka, Minami Furano Town Mayor: Mr. Hideki Takahashi, 
Furano City Mayor: Mr. Taketoshi Kita, Nakafurano Town Mayor: Mr. Kiyoshi Komatsuda, 
Asahi Soft Drinks Co., Ltd., General manager of CSV strategy: Mr. Masahiro Miura, 
Japan Tech Co., Ltd., President and Representative Director: Eiichi Furusawa, 
PET REFINE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., Representative: President & Chief Executive Officer: Daigo Iga

■ JEPLAN Group's efforts to promote 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 650,000 tons*³of PET bottles are manufactured and sold annually. The recycling rate is about 85%*⁴.However, only about 38%*⁵of PET bottles are recycled as PET bottles. We aim to achieve bottle-to-bottle recycling of the remaining 62%, and are working to further promote resource recycling.

*^3,4,5　PET Bottle Recycling Annual Report 2025 (PET Bottle Recycling Promotion Council): 
              https://www.petbottle-rec.gr.jp/nenji/2025/2025.pdf

■ Nakafurano Town (https://www.town.nakafurano.lg.jp/ )
Mayor: Kiyoshi Komatsuda

■ Furano City (https://www.city.furano.hokkaido.jp/ )
Mayor: Taketoshi Kita

■ Minami Furano Town (https://www.town.minamifurano.hokkaido.jp/ )
Mayor：Hideki Takahashi

■ Shimukappu Village (https://www.vill.shimukappu.lg.jp/ )
Mayor：Masaharu Tanaka

■ Asahi Soft Drinks Co., Ltd. (https://www.asahiinryo.co.jp/index.psp.html )
President and Representative Director: Taichi Yoneme

■ Japan Tech Co., Ltd. (https://www.jtech-u.co.jp/ )
President and Representative Director: Eiichi Furusawa

【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、北海道内４市町村・アサヒ飲料・ジャパンテックと「ペットボトルの水平リサイクルの実施に関する協定書」を締結.PDF