SATO Holdings Corporation and Nakadai Holdings will launch a proof of concept (PoC) in April 2024 at Nakadai's Komagata plant in Japan to establish a traceability system to visualize all processes from waste collection and treatment to production of recycled materials. The goal of the trial is to advance the way waste is treated and recycled.

This project is part of the effort to build a circular economy and guarantee a stable supply of high-quality recycled materials as a domestic resource.

The PoC aims to establish visualization and systemization of all information and processes from resource procurement to disposal in order to recycle resources and realize a circular economy, combining the technologies of SATO and Nakadai.

This initiative to create a traceability system in the field of waste management utilizes SATO’s expertise in building traceability systems for food and pharmaceuticals using auto-ID technologies such as barcodes and RFID.

(1) Smart waste collection and storage

Cameras are installed at waste storage sites of companies outsourcing waste treatment to Nakadai to visualize the status of waste collection using AI tools for optimizing vehicle dispatch and collection planning.

(2) Visualization of recycling processes from treatment to production

Collected waste is assigned an ID, and the ID is linked to each process at the plant from the receipt of waste to the treatment and production of recycled materials, thereby collecting information necessary for traceability of treatment and production processes.

This optimizes both the collection, storage, sorting and transportation of waste to be utilized as recycled materials and the treatment process to produce recycled materials from waste after delivery to the plant to realize a stable supply, quantity and quality of recycled materials.

Furthermore, information such as recycling rate and GHG emissions generated in the waste treatment process will also be visualized and shared with relevant parties for use in the development of easily recyclable products, corporate ESG information, and future purposes including Digital Product Passport.1

In order to build a sustainable society, we must recycle used products as resources. However, in many waste disposal sites, the timing and quantity of waste production is unstable and indefinite, making it difficult to plan for efficient collection and treatment.

Stable and quantitative recycling, as well as production of recycled materials as a domestic resource will be key to a circular economy. The reality is that there have not been significant advancements in visualization of production processes and quality information (i.e., traceability). The concerns around the supply and the quality of resources have prevented the business community and society from shifting to a truly circular economy.

SATO Holdings Group CEO Hiroyuki Konuma will speak at the first CPQ (Circular Park Kyushu) Summit in Tokyo on February 28-29, 2024, about SATO’s efforts to apply its expertise and experience in digitization technologies to connect goods and information accumulated in the arterial industries (manufacturing/production) to the venous industry (recycling/reprocessing).

The summit is organized by Circular Park Kyushu Co., Ltd. for the purpose of building a rapid circular resource network and promoting collaboration through the exchange of information among different industries. Participants will learn about the future that Circular Park Kyushu aims to realize through its existing recycling businesses, a circular economy that transcends industries and business sectors.