Kao and Unilever Report on Progress of Collaborative Recovery Program

 Kao and Unilever Japan are implementing the "Minna de Bottle Recycling Project" in Higashiyamato, Tokyo, with the cooperation of Veolia Japan, toward a recycling-oriented society where plastics do not become waste.

At the collection boxes installed at 10 locations in the city, used containers for daily necessities were sorted and collected, and a total of 1426 used containers of approximately 42 kg were collected from June 1st to August 18th. It is calculated that 3.6% of all households in the city participated.

Approximately 46% of the collected containers were bottles and approximately 54% were refill film containers, which were washed and dried cleanly at home, and contamination with items other than daily necessities containers was limited.

The city's website, SNS, garbage separation app, posters, etc. were actively announced to promote the understanding of the citizens, and it seems that the collection is proceeding smoothly.

Furthermore, it was recognized as a project to promote the implementation of horizontal recycling, and was selected as the "Reiwa 3rd Innovative Technology / Business Model Promotion Project" in Tokyo.

For the future, we are considering "expansion of separate collection of daily necessities containers" and "verification of horizontal recycling technology from bottle containers to bottle containers".

In addition to collection and enlightenment activities at existing bases, we will promote the creation of a system that allows more consumers to participate more conveniently and with a sense of significance.

Specifically, we are considering hearing with citizens, adding collection bases, and visualizing the amount of collection by base using the app. In addition, we will consider improving the efficiency of collection methods and collaborating with partners so that they will be commercially sustainable even if the number of collection bases increases in the future.

The empty containers that have already been collected will be sorted, washed and processed by Veolia Genets, which is in charge of the recycling business, by the end of September.

After that, by October 2021, Unilever Japan and Kao aim to perform test molding into bottle containers with the cooperation of package makers.

Furthermore, by December 2021, strength tests, safety tests, etc. will be conducted using test-molded bottles to verify the requirements required for future cleaning and recycling processes.

We plan to continue to verify the horizontal recycling technology from bottle containers to bottle containers through the same process every three months.