Sony Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation, together with 12 other chemical and materials companies across five countries and regions, have established what they describe as the world’s first global supply chain dedicated to producing renewable plastics for use in high-performance audio-visual products.
The consortium includes ADEKA Corporation, CHIMEI Corporation, ENEOS Corporation, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation, Hanwha Impact Corporation, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Neste Corporation, Qingdao Haier New Material Development Co., Ltd., SK Geo Centric Co., Ltd., Toray Industries, Inc., and Toray Advanced Materials Korea Inc.
The renewable plastics produced through the supply chain are expected to be used in upcoming Sony products to be launched globally.
High-performance audio-visual equipment relies on a wide range of plastic materials, creating complex supply chains that make it difficult to trace raw materials and manage emissions across the full value chain. Certain components requiring specific flame resistance and optical properties cannot be fully replaced with mechanically recycled plastics, limiting efforts to reduce reliance on virgin fossil-based materials.
To address these challenges, the participating companies mapped Sony’s existing plastics supply chain and developed a new system enabling the production of multiple renewable plastics derived from biomass feedstocks using a mass balance approach. This method allocates the characteristics of biomass inputs to a portion of final products when mixed with conventional materials during processing and distribution.
The defined supply chain structure is also intended to improve traceability of greenhouse gas emissions data across the value chain, allowing participating companies to document and verify emissions performance and support carbon reduction efforts.
The initiative forms part of the “Creating NEW from reNEWable materials” project launched jointly by Sony and Mitsubishi Corporation, which aims to eliminate the use of virgin fossil-based plastics in Sony’s products through the increased adoption of renewable alternatives.
