Japan's Toray & Soramitsu to trial blockchain technology

The company seeks to integrate proprietary recycling, biomass and other sustainable technologies that can contribute to a closed-loop economy. It also looks to integrate its product supply chain with Soramitsu’s blockchain technologies to enhance traceability in product collection, reuse, and other processes. Such an approach would help engage all supply chain stakeholders in achieving a closed-loop economy, Toray said in a media statement.

In 2019, Toray launched “&+”, a sustainable brand that supports efforts to use recycled plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate as raw fibre materials and make such resources traceable. The trial will focus on this brand, with Toray collaborating with companies in its supply chain in organising to build a basic system that allows anyone, anywhere to verify traceability. Toray will encourage consumers to actively engage in the recycling process by providing visualisation and verification of the closed loop cycle, where consumers can trace the full process from material collection to the production of the end product. It will also verify frameworks that make it easier for its business partners to integrate information from this system into their own traceability systems.

The company will validate how much energy is used during the recycling process and present information that shows consumers the environmental impact of each product. Toray will draw on trial findings to sort out issues and substantiate prospects for broadening applications for the traceability system. The company aims to deploy this setup for all the core polymers, including fibres, resins, and films.

Toray will establish a blockchain-based supply chain to deliver total traceability from manufacturing through final product distribution, collection and reusage.

Toray will empower consumers and other stakeholders to participate in a closed-loop economy by enabling them to confirm that the resources sustainably, thus helping to realise a society that readily embraces resource sustainability and closed loop cycles.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)