Japan’s Circular Economy Vision Under the Action Plan

While global competition for resources is intensifying, much of the recyclable material generated in Japan is being exported, incinerated, or landfilled. The main bottlenecks are insufficiently developed fair competitive conditions, recycling technologies, and business viability for resource-circulation ventures.

The Japanese government regards strengthening the recycled-resource supply chain that can stably provide the quality and quantity of recycled materials required by core industries as central to crisis-management and growth investment. It will combine stronger collection and sorting, expanded markets for products using recycled materials, reviews of related systems, public and private investment, and social structural reform, while involving businesses, local governments, and the public in advancing the circular economy as a national strategy.

At the 4th Meeting of Related Ministers on the Circular Economy in April 2026, the Circular Economy Action Plan was compiled. The plan treats recycling and the use of recycled materials from critical minerals and metal resources as an urgent economic-security issue that goes beyond environmental protection.

The basic framework of the action plan uses two complementary approaches: a macro approach that captures global conditions and the overall structure, and a micro approach that begins on the ground according to the time horizon and urgency.

If critical minerals and metal resources can be recovered from used products in Japan and overseas and stably supplied as recycled materials, this can reduce import dependence and enhance industrial autonomy and indispensability. Setting supply targets for iron, aluminum, copper, and permanent magnets is expected to secure raw materials for manufacturing while advancing decarbonization.

Investment in resource-recycling hubs and arterial and venous industry cooperation will strengthen the business foundations of small-scale, regionally distributed resource-circulation industries and support the supply of recycled materials meeting the quality, quantity, and cost requirements of manufacturing. Market formation for recycled plastics will create new demand and supply linkages for manufacturing industries such as automotive.

Measures against improper scrap yards and improper exports concern the protection of living environments and the prevention of domestic resource outflows. At least 100 prefectures and other jurisdictions want national-level legal systems, and stronger nationwide regulation and border measures would help prevent regulatory arbitrage among local governments.

By evaluating recycled materials through public procurement and environmental labels and encouraging choices by consumers, local governments, and the private sector, Japan will expand demand for recycled materials and promote a shift toward highly circular products. Responses to the mass disposal of solar panels and fires involving lithium-ion batteries will also affect future processing capacity and safety.

The Metal Recycling Promotion Strategy identifies, at the macro level, critical minerals and metal resources for which securing recycled materials should be prioritized and sets supply targets through 2030. At the micro level, it promotes recovery, sorting, and recycling from urban mines; organizes short-term measures against improper scrap yards and medium- to long-term circulation of e-scrap after e-waste is dismantled and sorted through cooperation with like-minded countries. It also works to develop international standards to increase the added value of products made from recycled resources.

For iron, Japan will advance technology development and equipment investment for high-grade iron scrap, sorting and upgrading of low-grade material, and measures against improper yards and exports, securing an additional approximately 2 million tonnes per year of upgrading capacity by 2030. For aluminum, it will sort alloy types and remove impurities, making approximately 40% of domestic rolled-product production derive from recycled feedstock. For copper, it will strengthen the processing and procurement of e-scrap and copper scrap and smelting operations, making approximately 30% of electrolytic copper derive from recycled resources. For permanent magnets, approximately 30% of raw materials will be supplied through recycling.

For the formation of resource-recycling hubs, investment on the venous side, responsible for collection, sorting, storage, material separation, pretreatment, and upgrading, will be supported. By combining budgets, initial-investment support, public and private funds such as the JICN, financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, and risk capital, Japan aims for approximately 1 trillion yen in public and private investment by 2030.

Using the three ministerial certification systems under the Advanced Resource Recycling Business Act, which came fully into force in November 2025, Japan will create advanced resource-recycling businesses through special exemptions that eliminate permit procedures and other requirements under the Waste Management Law, subject to protecting surrounding living environments. Through briefings, exchanges of views, and technical and financial support, it aims for at least 100 certifications in 3 years. For recycled plastics, it will advance quality upgrading of packaging-derived materials, technology development for mechanical and chemical recycling, demonstrations at consolidation hubs, equipment introduction, demand stimulation, and certification schemes.

To curb the overseas outflow of recyclable resources, Japan will consider revising the Waste Management Law and related laws and will address the proper treatment and prevention of improper exports of used lead-acid batteries in an integrated manner. It will clarify the scope of the Basel Law and criteria for determining applicability, analyze export trends, implement border measures, and cooperate with relevant agencies.

Under the Green Purchasing Law, initiatives began in fiscal 2024, and, in principle, circularity criteria such as recycled-plastic utilization rates will be introduced for all designated procurement categories in the basic policy by fiscal 2030. The treatment of certified products under the Law for Promotion of Utilization of Resources, revised in June 2025, will be considered in fiscal 2026, with third-party environmental labels such as Eco Mark used as well.

For solar panels, discharged volumes could reach approximately 500,000 tonnes per year at maximum from the latter half of the 2030s onward. Japan will promote environmentally conscious design and reuse, address the current challenges of cost differences and the developing nationwide processing system, gradually strengthen recycling regulations beginning with businesses generating large disposal volumes, and establish an environment in which a wide range of solar panels, including residential panels, can be recycled economically.

For lithium-ion battery measures, a liaison meeting of relevant ministries and agencies was established in October 2025. Based on the comprehensive measures package decided in December of the same year, Japan will advance separate collection, the introduction of detection equipment at processing facilities, and institutional measures under the Waste Management Law. The public and businesses are presented with three Cs: choose wisely, use carefully, and dispose of correctly, followed by resource circulation. Japan aims for zero serious fire accidents by 2030.