30 June 2020
JFE Engineering Corporation
J&T Recycling Corporation
J&T Recycling Corporation has recently established a joint venture in the waste plastic recycling business, namely, R Plus Japan Ltd. (Representative, President and CEO: Tsunehiko Yokoi, Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo), with a group of 12 companies that also includes Suntory MONOZUKURI Expert Ltd. (SME), TOYOBO Co., Ltd., Rengo Co., Ltd., Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd., Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd., Iwatani Corporation, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., Fuji Seal International, Inc., Hokkai Can Co., Ltd., and Yoshino Kogyosho Co., Ltd. The aim of the new company, which began operation in June of this year, is to contribute to solving issues related to waste plastic in order to create a sustainable society.
R Plus Japan will continue to seek a wide range of new investors, and companies including Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. are currently studying participation.
In May of this year, J&T Recycling Corporation issued a press announcement concerning the construction of a new PET bottle recycling plant, which will be the largest in Japan and will contribute to the B2B (business-to-business) shift, saying that it plans to "recycle used PET bottles as PET bottles once again."
This chemical recycling of waste plastic is a deeply significant effort to expand the range of plastic recycling in addition to material recycling of PET bottles.
J&T Recycling intends to contribute to realizing a recycling-based society through treatment of waste plastic, which has become a global issue, "focusing earnestly on recycling business that uses the latest technologies," as also stated in its Management Policy.
While being actively involved in the new company established with its partners in the joint venture, the company will also grapple with the development of next-generation technologies.
About the recycling technology of used plastic
Many plastic packaging materials are unable to be recycled and are instead thrown away after a single use, often landfilled, incinerated*1 , or littered. Unlike the existing multi-step processes which first liquefy plastic waste back into low value "synthetic oil" intermediate products, Anellotech's Plas-TCat chemical recycling*2 technology uses a one-step thermal-catalytic process. This process converts single-use plastics directly into basic chemicals such as benzene, toluene, xylenes (BTX), ethylene, and propylene, which can then be used to make new plastics. The technology's process efficiency has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Once utilized across the industry, this technology will be able to more efficiently recycle single-use plastic, one of the world's most urgent challenges.
- *1 Including thermal energy recovery
- *2 Chemical recycling is a process by which a polymer is chemically reduced to basic chemicals so that it can eventually be processed and remade into new plastic materials that go on to become new plastic products.
- Public Relations Section, General Administration Department, JFE Engineering Corporation
With the engagement of various industries throughout the supply chain, from raw materials manufacturers, and packaging suppliers to beverages companies, the newly established R Plus Japan, together with Anellotech, will advance the development and commercialization of this eco-efficient plastic recycling technology by 2027.
Company Profile
| Company name | R Plus Japan, Ltd |
|---|---|
| Date of commencement of business | June 2020 |
| Headquarters | 2-3-3, Daiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan |
| Representative | Tsunehiko Yokoi (President & CEO) |
| Business | Expanding development of recycling technology for used plastics |
About Anellotech
Founded in 2008, Anellotech (http://www.anellotech.com) is a sustainable technology company focused on commercializing the innovative production of cost-competitive renewable chemicals and fuels from non-food biomass or waste plastics. Its patented Bio-TCat™ technology is an efficient thermal catalytic process for converting biomass into benzene, toluene and xylene, which are chemically identical to their petroleum-based counterparts.
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