Inauguration of Circular PET plant in Japan
Veolia, in partnership with a global trading and investment company Mitsui & Co.,Ltd. and Japanese leading retail conglomerate Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., announces the inauguration of the Circular PET plant in Tsuyama, Japan. This state-of-the-art facility is claimed to mark a milestone in realising a circular business model that recycles used PET bottles into high-quality raw materials for PET bottles.
This plant joins Plastiloop, a network of over 40 Veolia plastic recycling plants spread across the world. Veolia is the world leader in recycled plastic, with 500,000 metric tons of plastic recycled by 2023.
PET bottles with caps or labels left on or leftover drinks have been considered difficult for bottle-to-bottle recycling in Japan. Using Veolia’s experience and know-how, the Circular PET plant has been designed to recycle such material and produce new food-grade PET bottles, contributing to a more sustainable future. The plant can produce 25,000 tons of food-grade recycled PET resin per year, reducing 27,500 tons of CO2 emission and meeting brand owners’ increasing demand.
To ensure a steady supply of raw materials, Circular PET has established partnerships with key players in the industry, including the West Japan Railway Company and Kyushu Japan Railway Company. These partnerships enable the collection of used PET bottles, which are then sorted, crushed, washed, melted, and subjected to solid-state polymerisation to produce high-quality recycled PET resin.
