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A joint effort to eliminate landfills and incineration supported by Kanagawa Prefecture.
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and Bosch Corporation, the Japanese subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, are announcing a partnership with AC Biode Co., Ltd., a cleantech startup based in Japan and Luxembourg.
In a joint effort to eliminate landfills and incineration, the two companies will start to test the recycling of wastes that currently are not being recycled. The proof of concept is to start November 2024 and run for around 6 months. It is generously supported by Kanagawa Prefecture.
Recycling is key to the sustainability strategy of Bosch Corporation. Further down the line, it is a key driver to packaging design. It must be guaranteed that the materials are indeed recycled at the end of life.
Currently, most of the waste in Japan is incinerated or sent to landfills. In order to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, Bosch implemented the “Zero Waste to Landfill” campaign in 2019. Now the partnership with AC Biode allows the company to target those materials, which are difficult to recycle, such as PET, PBT, PVC, nylon, textile, PA, organic waste, foam urethane, cellulose, lignin, sewer sludge, etc. The benefit of AC Biode´s chemical recycling technology is that it can handle multi-layered or deteriorated plastics. Traditional, mechanical recycling, cannot handle such wastes.
Although pyrolysis can, it is preventatively expensive with high energy requirements above 400°C. AC Biode´s novel approach operates 180-300°C. “We also don’t use expensive solvents during the process – only the catalyst and water.” says Tadashi Kubo, Co-Founder & CEO of AC Biode. “Also, Plastalyst produces methanol, hydrogen and other high-value commodities. For the big companies, this means it actually pays off to do recycling.”
In 2023 AC Biode successfully depolymerized PET into methanol. In 2024 another leap came out of the laboratory in Kyoto. The chemical recycling or organic waste to syngas. This patent-pending process is more efficient than bio digestion or gasification.
AC Biode´s vision is to eliminate all waste going to landfills and incineration.
Plastalyst enables a renewable carbon refinery that recycles all waste.