JEPLAN Rewind PET Chemical Recycling Technology

JEPLAN, INC. is a Japanese company established in January 2007 and headquartered in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. It builds its business around proprietary chemical recycling of PET, so that used PET bottles and polyester clothing can be turned back into resin of the same quality as petroleum-based material.

The process breaks waste PET down to the molecular level and combines crystallisation and distillation to extract the BHET monomer, removing dyes, metals and other impurities, which makes the output suitable even for food contact. JEPLAN licenses this technology worldwide as Rewind PET together with French partners Axens and IFPEN, customised to the feedstock, target product and regulations in each country. Its group company PET Refine Technology runs a commercial bottle-to-bottle plant.

• Molecular depolymerisation: breaks waste PET bottles and polyester textiles down to BHET monomer.
• Crystallisation and distillation purification: removes dyes, metals and grime to food-contact quality.
• Feedstock flexibility: handles bottles with high impurity levels and polyester fibres.
• Customised licensing: tailored to feedstock, target product and each country's regulations.
• Engineering partnership: commercialised with Axens and IFPEN for licensed plants worldwide.
• Demonstration unit: Rewind PET semi-industrial unit at the Kitakyushu Hibikinada plant.

Vietnamese PET recyclers and packaging groups can license the process to produce food-grade rPET for bottle-to-bottle supply. Textile and garment groups can recover polyester waste into new fibre. Industrial park developers can attract a licensed chemical recycling plant as part of circular economy zones.

Licensees can recycle all types of waste PET, including bottles with high impurity levels and polyester textiles that mechanical recycling struggles with. Output resin matches virgin quality and is suitable for food-contact bottles, enabling bottle-to-bottle and fibre-to-fibre loops. The technology is backed by more than ten years of commercial plant operation. Licensing is adapted to local feedstock and regulation.

Beverage and fashion brands are committing to recycled PET content, and food-contact rPET requires high purity. In Vietnam, packaging EPR and growing demand for recycled resin from exporters create interest in technologies that can handle lower-grade bottles and polyester textile waste beyond mechanical recycling.

Established in January 2007, headquartered in Kawasaki, Japan, led by CEO Masaki Takao. Group company PET Refine Technology operates a bottle-to-bottle chemical recycling plant and fully redeemed its Green Fund bonds in 2026. Licensing is run with Axens and IFPEN. JEPLAN also operates the BRING clothing take-back brand and received GX Acceleration Agency funding in August 2026.