Recovered paper is one of the materials that have been recycled for a long time. Mitsui Bussan Packaging is a trading company involved in the entire paper recycling value chain, from the collection of recovered paper to the manufacture of recycled paper and the sale of packaging materials such as corrugated board made from recycled paper. We interviewed the people in charge of contributing to the reduction of CO2 emissions through the "circular economy" by reusing recovered paper, and asked them about the possibilities and challenges of this business.

Mogi: I think the most important thing is the high level of environmental awareness among the Japanese people. In Japan, the education and culture of separating paper for recycling is deeply rooted, and I think this can be called the Japanese model. In addition, because Japan is a resource-poor country, it is necessary to compensate for the lack of resources by recycling, and I think this is the background that has inevitably led to the development of recycling technology for recovered paper.

Suzuki: Yes, since the raw material of paper is wood, we can reduce the input of new wood resources by repeatedly using recovered paper. It also reduces the amount of paper to be incinerated and disposed of, which we believe directly leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Suzuki: As for the cost, it depends on the specifications of the product, so we cannot make a general comparison. For example, the cost of recycling corrugated cardboard is not so high, but for recycled products that require cosmetics and whiteness, treatments such as removal of foreign matter, deinking, bleaching, and washing are added to the manufacturing process. In other words, the cost of high-quality recycled paper tends to be higher.

Suzuki: "Restoring" recovered paper to a white, clean pulp requires a lot of chemicals and energy, and therefore costs more. In addition, the more pulp is washed, the more it is damaged, resulting in unusable waste pulp. Paper manufacturers therefore reduce the burden of bleaching by mixing new pulp with recovered pulp. This also reduces the amount of waste pulp because the strong fibers of the new pulp cover the shortcomings of the damaged fibers of the recovered pulp. By making good use and recycling of recovered paper while taking into account the burden of bleaching, these energy costs can also be reduced.

Hirata: We mainly handle recovered paper discharged from businesses. We collect them optimally from our customers and deliver them to recycling centers (recovered paper wholesalers). There, we are required to collect properly sorted recovered paper in a stable manner at a low cost.

Hirata: Businesses that emit recovered paper have matured in their awareness of recovered paper collection and recycling, but we continue to educate them on the importance of sorting and disposing of waste that contains recovered paper. However, awareness of the possibility of resources being contained in wastes is not yet widespread, and we feel it is necessary to continue raising awareness of this issue.

Hirata: We call the flow of disposal, collection, and recycling of recovered paper "vein" and the flow from papermaking to manufacturing and sales of packaging materials "artery." Most of the costs on the vein side are logistics costs, so how to collect recovered paper at a low cost is important from the perspective of resource recycling. In terms of logistics, we are devising various ways to efficiently collect recovered paper in the face of a shortage of drivers and soaring fuel costs. For example, many parts of the collection process are done in an analog manner, but we are using IT systems and digital tools to improve logistics efficiency.

Hirata From the aspect of stable collection, another problem is the decrease in the amount of recovered paper generated. In addition to the stagnation of economic activities due to the Corona disaster and the decrease in paper media such as newspapers and magazines due to digitization, there is the risk of fluctuations in export volumes due to overseas market conditions and exchange rate effects.

Suzuki: While trading companies and other companies handle arterial logistics, few trading companies participate in venous logistics, and Japan's venous logistics industry is in a state of disarray with many detailed companies. In such a situation, we are able to handle venous logistics with the comprehensive strength of Mitsui & Co. Moreover, many companies consult with us on how to balance the environment and the economy, thanks to the trust that comes with being a general trading company.

Mogi: Waterproofed paper and thermal paper, known as "difficult-to-process paper," are usually disposed of by incineration. Currently, as the amount of recovered paper being collected is decreasing, the recycling of difficult-to-process paper is attracting attention, and capital investment is underway. Since there is a high need for the recovery of difficult-to-process recovered paper, we are in the process of verifying the recycling of recovered paper back into raw materials.

Hirata: Similarly, we are also working to recycle jute bags, many of which used to be incinerated as garbage. Since jute is also a plant fiber, it can be recycled into paper products through material recycling. We were the first company to recycle jute bags as paper products.

Mogi: In our recovered paper collection business, we also coordinate a closed resource cycle in which recovered paper is collected from customers, recycled, and sold as packaging materials to the same customers. From the perspective of recycling to realize resource circulation, selling resources, which are emissions, for value also means that customers are also suppliers of raw materials. In other words, if the raw materials (emissions) are supplied at a high price, they will be returned to the consumers themselves. This is an important point.
Until now, we may have only had to think about selling resources, which are emissions, at favorable conditions. We have three perspectives: the "environmental perspective" of recycling resources without limit, the "economic perspective" of linking prices from discharged raw materials to finished products, and the "stable procurement perspective" of being a consumer by supplying resources. We propose resource recycling through a "value network" that realizes these three perspectives.

Mogi: We believe that "visualization of the flow of resource circulation" such as disposal, recovery, recycling, and utilization by our customers creates a "chain of added value" from there. We believe that our role is to support our customers in achieving both "environmental" and "economic" goals from their perspective.

Suzuki: In the recycling of recovered paper, there are many parties involved, including customers, paper manufacturers, and packaging material manufacturers. We must realize packaging materials that meet the quality requirements of our customers using recycled materials. To achieve this, we believe it is important to achieve both "environmental" and "economic" goals as a whole through cooperation and economic rationality with all related companies.

Hirata: I mentioned that the majority of costs in veins are logistics costs, and reducing venous logistics costs will determine the overall cost of resource recycling. There are still some inefficiencies in venous logistics, such as multiple vendors entering and leaving an area at the same time. In the future, we would like to use digital technology to improve the efficiency of venous logistics and, by extension, resource circulation.

Suzuki: We support our customers' resource recycling, starting from the customers' point of view. Customers are becoming more and more environmentally conscious, and we will continue to support our customers in achieving both "environmental" and "economic" goals by focusing on resource recycling, including the recycling of used paper, from the customers' perspective.

Mogi: Under the title of "First One Mile Business," we are focusing on venous activities, not limiting ourselves to recovered paper, but undertaking the management of waste as a whole from the source of emission. We are also proposing to reduce circulation costs and CO2 emissions by linking up with arterial logistics.
At the same time, our greatest feature is that we already have touch points to the source of emissions that enable us to discover resources that can be recycled and productized as the entry point for resource circulation. We are committed to promoting activities that realize resource recycling with economic rationality through a value chain that connects veins and arteries.