ASKUL streamlines 405 tonne plastic recycling scheme with digglue tech

Japanese digital solution provider digglue Inc. has integrated its circular economy software platform, CE Traceability, into the resource recovery infrastructure operated by major office supply retailer ASKUL Corporation. The implementation digitises data across the entire recycling pipeline for used plastic clear file holders, covering collection, sorting, pellet manufacturing, and remanufacturing.

Establishing verified supply chain transparency for post-consumer recycled plastics is a long-standing structural challenge. Managing post-consumer materials suffers from fragmented data and complex record-keeping across multiple stakeholders. Under ASKUL’s platform, clear file holders are collected from participating businesses and processed by sorting partner Shirai Eco Center and pellet manufacturer Asei Shoji before being converted into new plastic products.

Connecting digital weigh scales and Internet of Things weight sensors directly to digglue’s CE Traceability platform allows operational staff to automatically record sorting weights and material flows without manual data entry. Headquarters personnel at ASKUL gain real-time oversight of sorting progress and material volumes across the supply chain. It has eliminated manual log creation and data entry tasks, cutting administrative workload by approximately 15 hours per month.

ASKUL initially launched the clear file holder recovery initiative in November 2020 as a demonstration project funded by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, with physical collection commencing in January 2021. Following its commercialisation as the ASKUL Resource Circulation Platform in April 2022, the network expanded rapidly. As of late May, the platform has collected a cumulative total of 405 tonnes of clear file holders from 3,959 registered business locations across Japan.