PROSPECTUS

Japan had long been taking initiative efforts in forming what we now have – a Recycling-based Society – a social concept that centers around Japan's high technology level and the traditional "mottainai" (a term in Japanese that conveys s sense of regret over waste) value. This had enabled Japan to achieve certain results ahead of the world.

However, in the meantime, the SDGs and the Paris Agreement triggered countries around the world, especially in Europe to make paradigm shifts towards a new civilized society that solves economic, environmental and social issues all in an integral manner. The Circular Economy is a good symbol of such shift. Unfortunately, as the world is moving towards this innovative economic system that not only reduces environmental burdens but also achieves sustainable economic growth and development, Japan is being left behind.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY JAPAN ("CEJ") has been founded in the aim of being used as a platform to bring and adopt Circular Economy as Japan's new economic system and ultimately realize its sustainable society. Under international cooperation, we will utilize this platform to connect knowledge, ideas and actions of different stakeholders and promote Japan's smooth transition to a Circular Economy.

Moreover, since the Circular Economy is very closely related to the principles of Cradle to Cradle™, CEJ intends to integrate the Cradle to Cradle principles with Japan's newest technologies and apply them on top of the already formed Japanese Recycling-based Society to form a "Japanese Circular Economy". Our goal is to build and establish a Japanese Circular Economy that is of a globally competitive standard.

"Circular Economy" – said to be the greatest innovation in the 250-year history of capitalism, is an evolutionary and innovative industrial model related to the economic system and activities that serve towards realizing a sustainable society.

Economic activities so far have taken place in a "Linear Economy" based on mass production and mass consumption. This has been about taking out resources and energy from the natural world, using them for manufacturing, using those manufactured products and disposing the used products as waste. These human activities have resulted in environmental problems such as shortages of natural resources and energy, global warming, issues of waste disposal and at the same time, have even caused the stagnation of economic growth.

Circular Economy is an economic system that may integrally solve all these problems.

This economic system enables the achievement of both economic growth and reduction of environmental burdens by circulating resources and products at various stages of economic activities (production, consumption, disposal, etc.), reducing wasteful resource and energy consumptions, reducing ultimate waste generation and creating additional value within each stage of circulation. International and cooperative efforts have been made to achieve this.

There is a similar concept in Japan called the "Junkan-gata Syakai" (i.e. Recycling-based Society), however, one of the most significant differences between the two is that the Circular Economy does not only promote recycling and the efficient use of resources, but also aims at creating a path to realize "economic development / growth and new job creation".

• Accumulating and sharing knowledge on Circular Economy
• Connecting and managing integral relationships between various stakeholders within the platform
• Exchanging know-hows and good practice among our platform users
• Approaching issues that arise in the process of making transitions to a Circular Economy
• Providing seminars and organizing Working Groups amongst our platform users
• Promoting the principles of Cradle to Cradle®

Organization Name

CIRCULAR ECONOMY JAPAN（Nonprofit Organization）

Address

4-3-11-223 Roppongi Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0032 JAPAN

Executive Director

Kazuhiko Nakaishi