The MCG Group and ALBION Are Collaborating to Build a Circular Economy for Cosmetic Containers
February 28, 2025
The Mitsubishi Chemical Group1 (the MCG Group) is starting a collaboration with ALBION Co., Ltd. (ALBION), a manufacturer and retailer of luxury cosmetics. Under the collaboration framework, waste plastics generated at ALBION will be transformed into new cosmetic containers through chemical recycling2 by the MCG Group.
When cosmetic containers are delivered from container manufacturers to ALBION, they are packaged with plastic cushioning materials to prevent scratches and placed in plastic bags to prevent dust. After the usage, these packaging materials have been conventionally disposed of by thermal recovery3. Under this collaboration framework, these used packaging materials will be collected, and the MCG Group will recycle them into oil at the chemical recycling facility newly established at the MCG Group’s Ibaraki Plant (Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture). The oil will then be processed into polypropylene resin for use as a raw material for cosmetic containers, thereby creating a resource circulation model. ALBION aims to release new products utilizing recycled plastics for their containers by the end of 2025.
In this collaboration framework, REFINVERSE Group, Inc. will collect used packaging plastics for recycling and Japan Polypropylene Corporation will produce recycled polypropylene resin.
In November 2024, the MCG Group newly established a chemical recycling facility with Japan’s top-class capacity. This facility can process 20,000 tons of plastic waste annually. Using technology licensed from UK-based Mura Technology Ltd., the facility utilizes “supercritical water”, a state of water at high temperature and high pressure, to decompose waste plastics and convert them into oil. By processing this oil into a secondary raw material for chemicals and a range of plastics a circular economy for plastic waste is established by chemical recycling.
Going forward, the MCG Group will continue collaborating with external partners to further promote and expand the application of recycling.
1 The Mitsubishi Chemical Group is a generic term used to refer to Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation and its Group companies.
2 A recycling method that decomposes plastic waste back to the raw material level, such as monomers. The monomers can be used as secondary raw materials, for producing new plastics.
3 A process of recovering thermal energy from waste. The heat recovered from incinerating waste is used for power generation, as well as heating, supplying hot water, heated swimming pools, and district heating systems.
4 A material balance management system in which multiple raw materials (e.g., fossil-based materials and recycled materials) are mixed to manufacture products, and the proportion of sustainable raw material used (i.e., recycled materials) can be allocated to any given products.
