In December 2025, we held our third Steering Committee meeting and presented the final report on “Theme 2: Facility Development and Market Prospects for Recycling and Expansion of Plastic Recycling in Japan,” which is the theme of policy recommendations for FY2025.

◾️ Report Summary

At this meeting, we analyzed the “economic ripple effects and business profitability” of the material recycling of plastics in Japan and the doubling of the amount of plastic collected and recycled by 2030, and made specific recommendations on the creation of legal systems and investment and financing opportunities that contribute to solving problems.

[Research Overview]
We formulated a scenario to increase processing capacity by approximately 2 million tons in Japan by 2030, and conducted simulations from both the perspective of identifying the issues and economic ripple effects and business balance.

[Recognition of issues]
Sensitivity analysis reveals the biggest factor affecting business sustainability. Difficulties in recovering investment, institutional aspects, hurdles in financing, etc.

[Economic ripple effect]
Estimate the economic ripple effect through facility development and operation. In addition, we estimate the economic effects and job creation of domestic recycling equipment, which currently relies on overseas manufacturing.

[Business profitability]
Conduct individual business income and expenditure simulations.

◾️ Steering Committee Members

|Members (name in alphabetical order, honorific titles omitted)
・Taro Kamagata (Secretariat Advisor, Platinum Initiative Network)
・Ichiro Tsuchimoto (Executive Director, Plastic Recycling Association)
・Kenji Baba (General Manager, Social Value Creation Promotion Department, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group)
・Takashi Fujii (Senior Researcher, New Business Development Promotion Department, SX Business Development Division, SX Business Development Division, SX Business Development Division, TOPAN Corporation)
・Kenji Fuuma (CEO of Neural Co., Ltd., Director of the Resource Recycling Promotion Council)
・Shunsuke Managi (Principal Professor, Kyushu University)

|Observer (organization name in alphabetical order, honorific title omitted)
・Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Recycling and Resource Recycling Bureau, Resource Recycling Division, Containers, Packaging, and Plastic Resource Recycling Office, Chief Inspector Masayuki Okabayashi
・Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry GX Group Resource Recycling Economy Division Assistant Manager Tokifusa Okada
・Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry GX Group Resource Recycling Economy Division Chief Kenta Fukumura
・Hirotoshi Nakamura, Senior Consultant, Sustainable Society Design Group, Research and Consulting Division, Japan Research Institute
・Japan Research Institute Co., Ltd. Research and Consulting Division, Environment, Energy and Resource Strategy Group Manager Junpei Kokita