Mitsui Chemicals Takes Part in AEPW Tokyo Summit Aiming to Promote Plastic Resource Circulation

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo: 4183; President & CEO: HASHIMOTO Osamu) took part in the AEPW Tokyo Summit, an event held on September 6, 2023. The event was hosted by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)^*1 – a group bringing together companies from a number of different countries – and Toyo Keizai Inc. Focused on discussing both the current state of plastic resource circulation in Japan and ways to advance on that front, the event comes four years after the establishment of the AEPW, and is one of a number of efforts highlighting the achievements of the AEPW so far, as well as plastic resource circulation initiatives undertaken by member companies in pursuit of a circular economy.

Mitsui Chemicals supports the aims of the AEPW, and joined as a founding member in January 2019. The company is engaged in various development efforts for plastic resource circulation, including technological development for mechanical recycling and chemical recycling and other studies.

During the panel discussion, Mitsui Chemicals President HASHIMOTO Osamu spoke about the role that companies must play in achieving a circular economy, saying, “It is essential that we move away from the conventional one-way approach of simply consuming resources and discarding them. Instead, we must adopt a new approach wherein we collect and reuse those used resources, allowing us to transition to a circular economy that does not create waste. As diversified chemical companies, we must not only develop various technologies for recycling, but also work on transitioning to biomass and other such raw materials, and on incorporating business models such as reuse and sharing. Further, if we are to advance social reform, we will need to collaborate with our value chains to advance demonstration testing, work on branding and carry out digital marketing, which can then be leveraged to proactively spread the word about the cause.”

Bolstering circular economy initiatives is part of Mitsui Chemicals’ Basic Strategy for VISION 2030. Going forward, Mitsui Chemicals aims to further advance this policy by leveraging a proactive alliance with the AEPW’s projects and other member companies in order to help resolve the problem of plastic waste.

*1AEPW (Alliance to End Plastic Waste)
Established in January 2019 as an international nonprofit, the AEPW currently has over 90 companies, citizens’ groups, organizations and the like among its ranks. These members are drawn from around the world and across the plastic value chain, including players in chemicals, plastic processing, retail, waste management and more. Through an alliance leveraging the strengths of each individual member, the AEPW aims to invest in the four core pillars of infrastructure, innovation, education and cleanup, with the ultimate aim of contributing to a sustainable society. As of August 2023, more than 50 AEPW-supported projects are in progress across approximately 30 countries.