ITOCHU : Teijin, and JGC Conclude Joint Agreement on the License Business of Polyester Chemical Recycling Technology
April 20, 2021 at 09:14 pm
Share
ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO), Teijin Limited (headquartered in Kita-ku, Osaka; Jun Suzuki, President & CEO), and JGC Holdings Corporation (headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama; Masayuki Sato. Chairman & CEO) have signed a joint agreement on the license business of polyester chemical recycling technology from discarded polyester textile products.
In recent years, environmental damage-such as global warming caused by greenhouse gases and marine pollution caused by waste plastic and abandoned fishing gear-has become more serious, and global countermeasures are urgently needed. Japan has implemented various initiatives aimed at helping to realize a more sustainable society, such as targeting the achievement of net zero emissions by 2050. In the fiber and textile industry, there is an urgent need to address sustainability issues such as the mass disposal of clothing as well as environmental challenges such as high levels of CO2 emitted during manufacturing.
Teijin has extensive and global experience in this area as a result of its operation of the world's first large-scale plant utilizing chemical recycling technology to produce polyester from discarded polyester textile products.
JGC has developed world-class engineering technology and has acquired a wide range of expertise in the oil & gas sectors, among others. It is now focusing on the construction of environmentally friendly plants and on other technologies and businesses related to the protection of the environment.
In 2019, ITOCHU launched its 'RENU' project, aiming to address the problem of excessive waste in the textile industry; it is also developing a global market for recycled polyester materials derived from used clothing and spare fabric generated during textile manufacture.
This agreement will bring together Teijin's proprietary chemical recycling technology deployed in the manufacture of polyester, the expertise of JGC derived from its global engineering business, and ITOCHU's extensive network of textile industry players. The three companies intend to establish a system for collecting discarded polyester fiber products and cost-effective chemical recycling technology for using such products as raw materials.
Going forward, Teijin, JGC and ITOCHU aim to expand the range of effective solutions for the mass disposal of used textile products.
Attachments
Original document
Permalink
Disclaimer
Itochu Corporation published this content on 21 April 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 21 April 2021 01:13:01 UTC.
Itochu Corporation is a diversified group organized around 8 areas of activity:
- distribution of food products (34.9% of net sales): frozen food, vegetable oil, sweeteners, sugars, etc.;
- distribution of hydrocarbons (23.3%): hydrocarbons (natural gas, oil products, bioethanol, etc.). The group also develops manufacturing of chemical products activity;
- manufacturing and sale of industrial and construction machines, vehicles and ships (9.7%);
- production of metals and coal (8.5%);
- sale of consumer products (8.4%). The group also develops forest products sale and real estate development activities;
- distribution of computing and telecommunication equipments (7%): data transmission, Internet access, media content broadcasting and mobile telephony equipments. The group also offers financial services;
- sale of textile products (3.6%);
- other (4.6%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Japan (79.5%), Singapore (5.4%), the United States (4.5%), Australia (3.1%), China (2.8%) and other (4.7%).