Decision to Invest in Commercial Production Facilities for Recycling of Used Plastics into Oil – Establishment of a joint venture company, Chemical Recycle Japan Co., Ltd. with Environment Energy Co., Ltd. –

Recent years, the importance and social need for the further promotion of the resource circulation of plastics are growing, as evidenced by the enforcement of the Act on Promotion of Resource Circulation for Plastics as well as the promotion of efforts to address issues such as marine plastic waste, climate change and the tightening of waste import regulations in other countries.
In Japan, only about 20% of the approximately 8.2 million tons/year of used plastics is used for recycled products. Since more than 50% of used plastics is difficult to recycle, it is incinerated as thermal recycling, which produces a high level of CO₂ emissions. As one solution to this problem, innovative chemical recycling technologies are being called for.

In this project, the newly established Chemical Recycle Japan Co. Ltd. will use its unique technology to convert  used plastics into oil to produce generated oil as a raw material in place of crude oil, then the generated oil will be refined, cracked, and polymerized in our existing refining equipment and petrochemical equipment to produce "renewable chemicals". Ultimately, these renewable chemicals will be used as raw materials to produce new plastic products at plastic product manufacturers and other companies.

The objective of this project is to contribute to the realization of a recycling-oriented society and reduction of CO₂ emissions by reusing plastics that have previously been incinerated as garbage as a valuable resource. We believe that this project is one that we should take responsibility for, as we have long handled fossil fuels and are deeply involved in the production of plastics derived from fossil resources, and one in which we can take advantage of our unique strengths as a company that has developed both refining and petrochemical businesses.
After establishing this business model in the Chiba Complex area, we will install converting equipment into oil at our group refineries and complexes nationwide, and promote the development of a larger-scale business targeting used plastics throughout Japan.

This project is positioned as an important initiative for social implementation of " Diverse resource conservation / circulation solutions" among the three business areas.

※ Company name changed from Ichikawa Kankyo Holdings, Co., Ltd.