J&T Recycling Corporation
J Circular system Corporation

J&T Recycling Corporation (President & CEO: Hiroyuki Haseba, Headquarters: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, hereinafter "J&T Recycling") and its group company J Circular system Corporation (President & CEO: Sazo Nakamura, Headquarters: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, hereinafter "J Circular system") will participate in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "FY2025 Resource Autonomous Economy Establishment Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Acceleration Project (Demonstration Project for Construction of Resource Circulation System in Wide-Area Local Governments)." They will analyze and verify issues related to large-scale supply systems for recycled materials, primarily recycled plastics, aimed at establishing resource circulation systems tailored to regional characteristics in metropolitan areas.

1.Background
In recent years, the transition to a circular economy has been accelerating in response to global resource constraints and environmental issues. While Japan is advancing initiatives aimed at realizing a resource-autonomous economy, the expansion of recycled material usage and establishment of regional circulation systems are still in progress. Further cooperation between local governments and advancement of sorting, collection, and recycling schemes remain challenges. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is promoting various measures for establishing wide-area circulation systems and stable supply of recycled materials. Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. has been selected as the contractor for the above project, with J&T Recycling and J Circular system participating in the demonstration in metropolitan areas.

2.Overview of the Demonstration Project
This demonstration project aims to establish resource circulation systems by constructing schemes from collection to recycling of recycled materials, particularly recycled plastics, to further expand the supply volume. The project will conduct demonstrations with relevant businesses in each region, considering regional characteristics such as metropolitan areas, regional cities, and small-scale regions.

■Metropolitan Areas (Assuming Greater Tokyo Area and surroundings)
・Characteristics: High population density with large amounts of waste from homes, offices, stores, and factories
・Challenges: While large volumes of specific materials (plastic containers and packaging, etc.) can be collected within the area, establishing new large-scale sorting facilities capable of accepting all volumes is difficult. Efficient collection and recycling can be achieved by establishing collection routes for each existing or planned recycling facility
・Demonstration Content:
― Demonstrating chemical recycling and material recycling for olefin resins, PET resins, etc.
― Building a model for circular supply chain across the Greater Tokyo Area

In this demonstration, J Circular system will sort 3 tons of transparent PET food trays using advanced sorting equipment from container and packaging plastics and plastic products collectively received from Kawasaki City and Ota Ward based on the Article 33 Recycling Plan Certification under the Plastic Resource Circulation Act. Meanwhile, J&T Recycling will examine more rational sorting methods and technologies in this process and transport the sorted samples to the next material recycling facility.

For "Regional Cities," the project will verify high-quality recycled material production and efficient circulation models through consolidation of household plastic waste and advanced sorting at large-scale sorting facilities in municipalities within Okayama Prefecture and multiple municipalities in Ibaraki Prefecture.

For "Small-Scale Regions," the project will demonstrate a wide-area collection system based on resident participation in sorting and disposal in areas such as Satsumasendai City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and examine the construction of a collaborative circulation model utilizing local communities.

3.Future Plans (or Outlook)
This demonstration project will continue until February 2026 and will be compiled into an outcome report. From FY2026 onward, we plan to aim for social implementation and nationwide expansion of the circular business model based on the demonstration results.