Yokohama City, Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. and Nisshin Oillio Group, Ltd. (hereinafter, Nisshin Oillio) announced on November 10, 2026 that the three parties had signed a “collaboration agreement for building a new resource circulation model” in October 2026. Through the collection and material recovery of oil-coated plastic bottles (hereinafter, plastic bottles) and waste cooking oil, the parties aim to establish a new resource circulation model.
Going forward, the three parties will study a demonstration of collection using a collection device developed by Nisshin Oillio. This device can collect oil-coated plastic bottles and waste cooking oil at the same time. The collaboration under the agreement spans three main areas: demonstrating the collection device and creating opportunities for the public to experience it; recycling the collected plastic bottles and waste cooking oil into materials; and raising public awareness and encouraging environmentally conscious behavior through educational and public relations activities to improve residents’ waste-sorting habits.
Among the plastic bottles crushed and de-oiled inside the collection device, PET material will be targeted for closed-loop (bottle-to-bottle style) recycling into recycled PET bottles. For polyethylene material, the parties will consider using the Mitsui Chemicals Group’s chemical recycling chain to pursue material recovery into recycled plastic products.
The collected waste cooking oil will be targeted for expanded use as feedstock for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). In addition, the parties will focus on biomass naphtha, a co-product generated during SAF production, and consider using Mitsui Chemicals Group technology to utilize it as a raw material for biomass plastics.
Oil-coated plastic bottles used in households are difficult to recycle at a high level because of the oil residue attached to them, and closed-loop recycling—as is done with beverage PET bottles—has not been sufficiently achieved. While efforts to collect household waste cooking oil are also underway, further expansion of its use as a recycled resource is expected.
Nisshin Oillio has worked with Kewpie Corporation since May 2024 on resource circulation for oil-coated PET bottles. The two companies have been collecting oil-coated PET bottles discharged from their respective manufacturing plants to produce recycled material, and since March 2026 have been progressively selling 800g PET bottle products that use some of this recycled material. Nisshin Oillio states that this is the first time in Japan that closed-loop (bottle-to-bottle) recycling has been achieved using oil-coated PET bottles.
※The image at the top and within the text is quoted from the press release
【Press release】Mitsui Chemicals signs collaboration agreement with Yokohama City and Nisshin Oillio to build a new resource circulation model (Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.)
【Press release】Yokohama City, Mitsui Chemicals and Nisshin Oillio sign collaboration agreement (Nisshin Oillio Group, Ltd.)
【Press release】Yokohama City press release material (November 10, 2026 [Reiwa 8])
【Reference】Recycled material from oil-coated PET bottles used in part of edible oil product PET bottles for the first time in Japan (Nisshin Oillio Group, Ltd. news release dated February 13, 2026)
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