In the textile industry, efforts towards "fiber-to-fiber" recycling are garnering attention. This is because effectively utilizing limited resources and reducing environmental pollution are critical challenges.
However, fibers can include both natural and synthetic fibers. Naturally, they are often colored and mixed with multiple materials. Recycling requires technology to remove these foreign materials, including dyes.
For example, even with polyester, if it is 100% pure and undyed, it can be recycled. However, when colored or mixed with other materials, methods such as thermal recovery or material recycling, which involve repurposing it as raw material for other products, are generally used.
Against this backdrop, a company was newly established with specialists from the textile industry, engineering, and trading sectors to tackle this issue using a groundbreaking method called chemical recycling. This involves chemically decomposing discarded textile products back into raw materials, enabling "fiber-to-fiber" recycling.
That company is the joint venture RePEaT Co., Ltd.. This company possesses unique technology for chemically recycling polyester products back into polyester. Through licensing its technology and consulting on the collection of used polyester products for recycling, it proposes an ecosystem centered on the material axis.
This time, we spoke with Nobuyoshi Miyasaka, President of Teijin Limited, Masatoshi Furukawa from JGC Holdings Corporation, and Shinpei Hayashi from ITOCHU Corporation, about the background of the company's establishment and the vision for a circular society.
PROFILE
Nobuyoshi Miyasaka
Nobuyoshi Miyasaka, President and Representative Director of RePEaT Co., Ltd., Teijin Limited. Joined Teijin Limited in 1995, engaged in research and development of new materials at the fiber research laboratory. In 2006, moved to the Corporate Strategy Office. In 2012, aimed to build a cyclical recycling system for polyester fibers and took on the role of Vice Chairman and Vice President at the jointly established Zhejiang Jiahua New Material Co., Ltd. with Jinggong Holding Group Co., Ltd. in China. In 2019, became Assistant to the Supervisor of Global Strategy Since 2023, serving as President of RePEaT Co., Ltd., Assistant to the Supervisor of Global Management, and concurrently in charge of the Environmental Solutions Department.
PROFILE
Masatoshi Furukawa
Masatoshi Furukawa, CTO of RePEaT Co., Ltd. and JGC Holdings Corporation. Joined JGC Corporation in 2010. Engaged in the design of overseas gas processing and LNG plants as a process engineer. In 2016, worked in the Technical HSE Department. Involved in the development of advanced safety designs for plants. In 2020, in the Sustainability Co-Creation Department of JGC Holdings Corporation, he was engaged in resource recycling and commercialization of fibers/polymers. Since 2023, while continuing to commercialize resource recycling technologies as a Program Manager, he has also been serving as the CTO of RePEaT Co. Ltd.
PROFILE
Shimpei Hayashi
Shimpei Hayashi, Vice President and COO of RePEaT Co. Ltd., ITOCHU Corporation. Joined ITOCHU Corporation in 2005 and was assigned to the Textile Raw Materials Department. In 2007, joined ITOCHU Textile Prominent (Asia) Ltd. in Hong Kong In 2012, at ITOCHU Textile Trading (China) Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, engaged in the trade of textile raw materials within China and across Asia. In 2017, worked as General Manager at ITOCHU Italiana SpA in Milan, gaining experience in the textile business across Europe. In 2020, returned to the domestic business unit Since 2023, serving concurrently as Deputy Division Head of the Textile Raw Materials Department in the Fashion Apparel Division III and as Vice President and COO of RePEaT Co. Ltd., continuing to engage in the textile raw materials trade business.
Promoting the Appeal of Chemical Recycling
This time, the joint venture company RePEaT was established by Teijin Limited, JGC Holdings Corporation, and ITOCHU Corporation. Could you tell us about the background of this venture?
MiyasakaThis background is closely related to Teijin's past activities, so let me explain from there first.
Teijin started manufacturing and selling polyester fibers in 1958. At that time, we reused yarn waste and defective products produced in factories through chemical recycling.
In 1995, the "Container and Packaging Recycling Law" was enacted, and our company began recycling PET bottles into fibers through material recycling. By 2000, we also started chemical recycling to produce PET bottles from discarded PET bottles and developed technologies to remove non-polyester materials like caps and labels.
On the other hand, since this technology allows returning fiber products colored and mixed with multiple materials back to fiber materials, and because the "Textile Recycling Law" was being prepared as an individual recycling law like the "Container and Packaging Recycling Law," we started full-scale business towards realizing "fiber to fiber" recycling.
However, this "Textile Recycling Law" was ultimately not enacted, and the domestic "fiber to fiber" business faced issues with the depletion of collected raw materials. Therefore, in 2012, we established Zhejiang Jiaren New Material (hereinafter referred to as Jiaren) as a joint venture with a local company in Shaoxing, China, to develop a cross-border recycling business combining cut scrap (waste fibers) from sewing factories in China and discarded clothes collected domestically.
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