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Endeavor to Create a Circular Economy

Biomass Strategy and Recycling Strategy

As a material manufacturer, the Group has supported rich and comfortable living for over 100 years through our philosophy of innovating and creating materials.

Going forward, we will continue to contribute to solving social challenges by bolstering circular economy initiatives which enhance environmental and social sustainability.

Based on this thinking, the Basic Strategy of VISION 2030 calls for building circular economy-based business models for all businesses. We are focusing on biomass and recycling strategies with a view to the entire supply chain for plastics, which are the Group's main products.

By implementing these two strategies and addressing the problem of plastic waste, we will continue to promote resource recycling and endeavor to create a circular economy.

Biomass strategy and Recycling strategy

Biomass Strategy: Expanding Lineup of Bio-Based Plastic Products

We believe that shifting to bio-based raw materials encourages resource circulation, curbs the further use of virgin fossil resources, and helps mitigate climate change. Based on this belief, we are expanding our lineup of biomass-based plastic products.

Starting in fiscal 2021, we have been using bio-based hydrocarbons produced from waste cooking oil and other materials as raw material for our naphtha cracker, thereby converting the various chemicals and plastics derived from it into bio-based products. We are expanding the lineup of biomass naphtha-derived products we can offer, and as of September 2026, have obtained ISCC PLUS certification for approximately 50 products.

High-performance products such as Sony Corporation’s audio-visual equipment use a wide variety of plastics, resulting in complex supply chains that make it difficult to visualize and centrally manage the entire flow from raw materials to finished products. In addition, it is difficult to replace virgin plastics used in components that require high flame resistance, optical properties, and other advanced characteristics with mechanically recycled plastics. The lack of practical solutions for reducing the use of virgin fossil-based plastics in such products posed an additional challenge.

To address these challenges, 14 companies, including Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals, collaborated to visualize the supply chain, and established a supply chain for multiple types of plastics and chemicals that are produced from bio-based feedstocks under the mass balance approach. This framework has made it possible to manufacture renewable plastics from renewable biomass resources while maintaining the same level of quality as conventional materials, allowing Sony Corporation to proactively select the raw materials needed for its products. Sony Corporation and the supply chain partners, including Mitsui Chemicals, will continue to collaborate and actively promote the introduction of renewable plastics.

Establishment of the World’s First Global Supply Chain to Introduce the Use of Renewable Plastics in Sony's High-Performance Products

Sony’s BRAVIA 9II Sony’s BRAVIA 9II

Mitsui Chemicals is expanding its lineup of biomass naphtha-derived products (biomass chemicals and biomass plastics) under the BePLAYER™ brand as part of its efforts to promote the use of biomass in society. Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL) has adopted Biomass Evolue™ produced using the mass balance method by Group company Prime Polymer Co., Ltd. for stretch film used to secure cargo during loading and storage at airports. The biomass material incorporated into the film is derived from biomass naphtha generated as a by-product of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. JAL’s use of this by-product, alongside its efforts to expand the use of SAF, has been recognized as a genuine commitment to resource efficiency. JAL has been introducing Biomass Evolue™ in stages since October 2025, with an expected annual reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 50 tons.

(Photo courtesy of JAL) (Photo courtesy of JAL)

Mass Balance Method

Mitsui Chemicals produces bio-based chemicals and plastics by mixing fossil-derived naphtha with bio-based hydrocarbons in the manufacturing process. These products are made of mixtures of fossil-derived and bio-based raw materials, but we allocate the share of bio-based raw materials used during production only to specific products and provide them to customers. This method is called the mass balance method. By using this method, a portion of the finished product can be considered “100% biomass-derived” depending on the amount of biomass-derived feedstock input, thus making it possible to meet the diverse biomass product needs of customers. We have acquired a third-party certification (ISCC PLUS certification) to prove that we properly manage and run the mass balance method in a reliable way. The Group believes that this method will play an important role not only for biomass products, but also as a scheme to help expand the portfolio of recycled chemical products.

マスバランス方式の認証体制

Recycling Strategy: Promoting Plastic Recycling

As social challenges related to waste management, such as resource depletion and problem of marine plastic waste, become more serious, the Group regards waste plastic and other materials as resources and is working to make effective use of them. We believe that promoting resource recycling can contribute not only to the effective use of resources such as the reduction of the use of fossil raw materials and fuels, but also to the reduction of waste through the recycling of waste plastics and to the reduction of GHG emissions throughout the entire value chain.

Specifically, we supply products through mechanical recycling, in which waste plastics and other waste are considered as raw materials and reused as raw materials for products, and chemical recycling, in which used resources such as waste plastics are chemically and thermally processed and decomposed into raw materials and monomers, and then recycled as plastics and chemicals. In addition to this, we will expand the circle of the circular economy through the development of new materials, recycling systems, and value chains, such as the conversion of packaging materials to monomaterials to promote recycling, and the provision of the digital resource circulation platform that realizes traceability of plastic recycling.

Mitsui Chemicals has installed demonstration facilities for mechanical recycling, which recycles waste plastics into usable resources, at the Chubu Nihon Plastics Co., Ltd. plant in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, driving technological development aimed at social implementation. The demonstration facility houses a wide variety of equipment for crushing, washing, and sorting, as well as our proprietary tandem extruder, which features systems including odor reduction and advanced foreign matter removal via a dual-filtration system. They enable the development of efficient recycling processes and improvements in the quality of recycled materials. Leveraging these facilities, we participate in the Cabinet Office’s Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) “Development of Circular Economy System,” as well as the BlueRebirth Council led by DENSO CORPORATION, which aims to build an integrated manufacturing and recycling value chain for the Car-to-Car horizontal recycling of plastics recovered from end-of-life vehicles, starting with automated precision dismantling.

Furthermore, these demonstration facilities serve as an open laboratory utilized by all stakeholders involved in mechanical recycling, including citizens, local governments and administrative bodies, educational institutions, recyclers, and brand owners. As an example, we have worked jointly with Hagihara Industries Inc. on technological development to enhance the quality of recycled plastics by homogenizing viscosity. We have begun licensing this technology to Hagihara Industries Inc. and selling the company viscosity homogenization equipment.

Moving forward, we will leverage our expertise as a materials manufacturer to contribute to advancing mechanical recycling technologies and improving the quality of recycled materials.

Installing demonstration facilities and developing technologies for mechanical recycling

As a symbolic initiative to address the challenges surrounding plastics, Lawson, Inc. and Mitsui Chemicals jointly developed bio- and circular shopping bags made primarily from Prasus™, a polyethylene derived from biomass and chemical recycling feedstocks using the mass balance approach. The bags are manufactured using materials for which biomass- and chemically recycled feedstocks account for 100% of the primary raw material input. The shopping bags were introduced at selected stores in January 2026, and will be rolled out to all Natural Lawson stores going forward. By increasing the recycling rate through the reuse of waste plastics as resources, while also expanding the use of biomass-derived feedstocks, the initiative helps reduce the consumption of virgin fossil resources and is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by approximately 36 tons.*

* Upon rollout to all Natural Lawson stores.

Renewing the world from the material of materials. BePLAYER™ and RePLAYER™ for regenerative lifestyles.

Realizing carbon neutrality and a circular economy society requires a major social transformation. As a materials manufacturer, the Group possesses the power of chemistry to fundamentally change people's lifestyles and has a responsibility to provide a wide range of solutions to society. Therefore, it is important for us to continue proactive communication to maintain our recognition as a comprehensive solution provider. To this end, through our two brands—BePLAYER™, which contributes to carbon neutrality with biomass, and RePLAYER™, which contributes to a circular economy through recycling—we aim to solve multi-faceted and complex social challenges and deliver a regenerative lifestyle that goes beyond sustainability.

Problems with Plastic Waste

The problem with plastic waste stems from plastics that have escaped from the process for resource recycling and ended up in environments due to inappropriate waste management. To prevent leakage into rivers and oceans, it requires a united effort by companies in the entire plastics value chain. We are working to ensure proper plastic waste management and promote recycling by participating in industry alliances and consortia, including the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA), the Ecosystem Society Agency (ESA), and the Sustainable Plastics Initiative (SusPla).

The alliance was established in January 2019 as a platform to strengthen coordination among a broad range of stakeholders across various industries. CLOMA aims to achieve a 100% recycling rate for plastic products by 2050, with a milestone of 30% recycled content usage in plastic packaging by 2030. To this end, the organization facilitates technical information sharing among members, business matching, and the verification of technologies and business models through demonstration projects.

CLOMA