Kentaro Inukai
Pana Chemical Co., Ltd. Representative Director
Representative Director, Resource Plastics Association
Environmental Counselor (Ministry of the Environment)
Over 40 years ago, Shigehei Inukai, the founder of Pana Chemical Co., Ltd., began recycling polystyrene foam at the Tsukiji market in Tokyo. It was an epoch-making system that achieved both cost and efficiency by purchasing Pana Chemical.
In an instant, it spread to fish markets, department stores, supermarkets, waste disposal companies, and now it has grown to a nationwide network of 2,000 companies with 3,000 tons per month, and has been introduced not only in the Japanese media but also in overseas think tanks. , the system is also exported.
In 2020, following the passing of our founder, Shigehei Inukai, we launched J-EPS recycling, a unique Japanese foam recycling system with a market share of about 80%. We have started a project to redefine it as a concept and spread it not only in Japan but also overseas. I had a strong desire to share and give meaning to my daily work. Currently, the world is calling for plastic-free and marine plastics, and attention is focused on why foamed polystyrene, which is considered to be a difficult material to recycle, is able to maintain a 90% recycling rate in Japan.
Even in the Asian think tank ERIA, which was established by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, J-EPS recycling is being taken up as "Japan's unique recycling technology to control marine plastics."
In the future, I would like to continue to disseminate this J-EPS recycling along with the words of the founder, Shigehei Inukai, that "recycling is not only a technology but also a circle of people."
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