By Kana Hashimoto

Redefining Japan’s “success”: From manual effort to an autonomous system

The recycling of “designated PET bottles” in Japan has achieved a level of success unparalleled globally. In fiscal year 2024, Japan recorded extraordinary performance with a recycling rate of 85.1% and a collection rate of 98.6%.

A key point is that these figures have been achieved without a statutory Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Success is built on a triad of systems that have been established over many years:

• Meticulous source-separated collection by municipalities.
• The “Clean Stream” culture (a collection flow with minimal impurities), where consumers voluntarily remove caps and labels and rinse bottles before disposal.
• Retail store collection boxes as a critical point of infrastructure. These elements work in harmony to ensure a stable supply of high-purity recycled sources.

While the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) mandates a 30% recycled content target for 2030, Japan currently has no equivalent, uniform statutory target. Instead, 2024 data show that 37.7% of designated PET bottle sales were turned back into food grade bottles (bottle-to-bottle). In practice, the amount of recycled content varies by product — some are made of 100% recycled materials, while others use only virgin resin. This is the result of comprehensive decisions by brand owners based on design, material requirements, and costs. Japan aims to expand this circulation further, with a target to raise the bottle-to-bottle ratio to 50% by 2030. This indicates that Japan’s next challenge is shifting toward demand creation — specifically determining how much recycled material can be utilized.

 

New challenges: “Optimizing roles” for a sustainable scheme

Even this world-class “Japanese Model” is facing structural shifts. Municipalities, at the front line of collection, are finding it increasingly difficult to sustain operational costs due to rising waste volumes and labor shortages.

In response, voices are emerging in Japan suggesting a transition to an “evolved EPR (extended producer responsibility)” framework for the future. The essence of this discussion is not merely about shifting costs, but about redesigning public-private roles to ensure a stable and efficient supply of high-quality PET resources to the industry. While some businesses remain cautious about new cost burdens, there is a growing recognition that the fragility of municipal collection poses a management risk to the supply of recycled materials. Consequently, Japan is exploring an “autonomous economic cycle” where the industry takes a leading role in the collection and management process to optimize the path from disposal to remanufacturing.

 

Technological breakthrough: Chemical recycling as a “magic wand”

The evolution of this system is supported technologically by the commercialization of chemical recycling. Previously, it was difficult to return non-food containers (such as detergent bottles) or contaminated plastics to food-grade quality through conventional mechanical recycling.

Today, industry collaboration is accelerating in Japan. For instance, nine companies — including Kirin Holdings, Kao, and JEPlan — have united to transform non-food PET products (fibers, sheets, trays) that were previously incinerated or downcycled into food-grade resin equivalent to virgin material, which can then be used to make new food packages. Based on safety evaluation methodologies proposed by Kirin Holdings, these companies are undergoing rigorous analysis to build a true closed-loop system.

 

Conclusion A future forged by the fusion of culture and economics

Japan’s strength — its “meticulous collection culture” — provides a feedstock with minimal impurities, making it exceptionally efficient for chemical recycling. We are now leveraging our past successes to elevate the entire system to the next stage by combining the economic engine of EPR with the technological solution of chemical recycling. “Collection is Culture; Circulation is Economics.” We are confident that the harmonization of these two elements will serve as a new global model for a circular PET bottle society.