Japan’s Circular Economy Vision Under the Action Plan | Chapter 4Action Plan for Resilient Recycled-Resource Supply Chains

While global competition for resources is intensifying, recyclable domestic resources in Japan are flowing overseas, and some are being incinerated or landfilled. Challenges remain in creating a fair competitive environment, developing recycling technologies, and ensuring the business viability of resource-circulation businesses, making it necessary to concentrate policy resources and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

The Circular Economy Action Plan was compiled in April 2026 at the fourth meeting of the Ministerial Council for the Circular Economy. Through recycling and the use of recycled materials for critical minerals, metal resources, and other materials, the plan develops initiatives involving businesses, local governments, and the public as a national strategy.

The Metal Recycling Promotion Strategy has two pillars: a macro approach that defines the resources to be secured as recycled materials and the vision for 2030, and a micro approach that strengthens collection and resource recovery from urban mines. Measures for improper scrap yards are positioned as short-term responses, while establishing circulation systems for e-waste and e-scrap is positioned as a medium- to long-term response.

If recycled materials can be supplied stably, dependence-related risks in overseas procurement of raw materials for core industries can be reduced, strengthening Japan's autonomy and indispensability. In particular, securing secondary resources will determine supply-chain resilience for aluminum, whose new metal is imported at 100%, and copper, whose copper concentrates are imported at 100%.

Greater scale and capability in the resource-circulation industry, including collection, sorting, separation, pretreatment, and quality enhancement, would support the supply of recycled materials meeting the quality, volume, and cost requirements of manufacturing, as well as the formation of long-term, large-volume contracts. Efforts to reflect the added value of products using recycled materials in international standards also look toward capturing global markets.

Containing improper scrap treatment and exports, and properly handling used lead-acid batteries, solar panels, and lithium-ion batteries, would help reduce risks to the living environment, the burden on final disposal sites, and fire accidents. Because large volumes of solar-panel waste are expected, securing treatment systems and economic viability will also affect local waste management.

Coordination among local governments, industry, academia, startups, and consumers is expected to create businesses using regional resources, develop human resources, and generate demand for recycled materials and reused products. Public procurement and environmental labels can broaden the selection of highly circular products and services by local governments and the private sector.

To encourage investment in small-scale, distributed resource-circulation industries in each region, Japan will implement and consider support schemes, including budgetary and financial assistance, initial-investment support, public-private funds such as the Japan Investment Corporation for Carbon Neutrality, and loans and risk capital for small and medium-sized enterprises. The goal is approximately 1 trillion yen in public-private investment by 2030 to strengthen recycled-resource supply chains.

The three ministerial certification systems under the Act on the Promotion of Resource Recycling, which came fully into force in November 2025, establish special provisions eliminating certain permit procedures under the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act, subject to preserving the living environment. Through nationwide briefings, exchanges of views, and technical and financial support, the government aims to certify 100 or more advanced resource-recycling businesses involving cooperation between manufacturing and resource-circulation industries within 3 years.

For high-quality recycled plastics derived from containers and packaging, concentrated efforts will be made in collaboration between manufacturers and recyclers, technology development, investment support, and demonstrations addressing both demand and supply. For manufacturing industries such as automobiles, the government will consider business models for hubs consolidating recycled plastics, systematize and demonstrate technologies, support equipment introduction, and consider measures to promote use and certification schemes.

In response to improper treatment of miscellaneous scrap, 100 or more prefectures and other local authorities are requesting regulation through national-level legislation. Alongside considering revisions to systems including the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act, the government will prevent illegal outflows of metal resources by clarifying the scope and applicability criteria of the Basel Act, analyzing export trends, and strengthening border measures.

Under the Green Purchasing Act, building on efforts since fiscal 2024, circularity criteria such as recycled-plastic utilization rates will in principle be introduced by fiscal 2030 for all specified procurement items included in the basic policy. The treatment of certified products under the Act on Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, revised in June 2025, will be considered in fiscal 2026, alongside the use of environmental labels such as Eco Mark.

For commercial solar power generation facilities of 10 kW or more, the FIT and FIP schemes provide a reserve system for disposal and other costs. From the latter half of the 2030s onward, used solar-panel waste is expected to reach approximately up to 500,000 tonnes per year. The government aims to gradually strengthen recycling regulations, beginning with businesses generating large amounts of waste, and eventually create an environment for economically rational treatment of a wide range of panels, including residential panels.

Based on the comprehensive measures package decided in December 2025 by the Liaison Council of Relevant Ministries and Agencies for Comprehensive Measures on Lithium-Ion Batteries, established in October 2025, measures will be advanced from manufacturing through disposal and treatment. The government will establish systems to prevent contamination under the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act, support the introduction of detection equipment at treatment facilities, and publicize the three Cs, aiming for zero serious fire accidents by 2030.

Using cooperation among like-minded countries through Japan-US, G7, Quad, and Japan-ASEAN frameworks, Japan will build an international network that circulates e-waste and other materials within like-minded countries and adds value at Japan's smelting facilities. For the Basel Convention PIC procedure, a system compatible with the United States' electronic procedures will be developed by the end of fiscal 2027 and digitized from fiscal 2028, with the goal of shortening procedures that currently take several months per case to approximately 1 month. Support for institutional and enforcement systems in 5 ASEAN countries, cooperation with India, and surveys of end-of-life vehicles and EV batteries will also proceed.

For version 1.0 of the Global Circularity Protocol, released at COP30 in November 2025, efforts will support corporate implementation and pursue continuous improvement reflecting the intentions of Japanese companies. In fiscal 2026, investment and financing guidance will be developed to promote information disclosure, and from March 2027, GREEN×EXPO 2027 will implement recycling technologies and initiatives to disseminate information and build social momentum.