Circularise and Marubeni, a Japan-based diversified trading conglomerate have teamed up to take Circularise’s digital technology to Asia. Together with Marubeni, Circularise will conduct demonstration projects with Marubeni’s domestic clients, after which the partners will investigate the benefits of a joint venture in Japan to commercialise the Circularise service.
Circularise, a Netherlands-based blockchain technology scale-up with a focus on making plastics supply chains more transparent and sustainable, has developed a platform solution that allows stakeholders involved in circular value chains to share and use material information while maintaining privacy over sensitive data.
The platform, created to address the growing need to be able to validate the sustainability claims made about the raw materials being sourced by operators in the chemical and plastics industry. While the industry is seeking to increase its use of ‘green’ materials, validation of their sources has proven difficult due to a lack of an efficient and trustworthy data-sharing infrastructure.
The platform, which Circularise has been building since 2016, makes it possible both to create a tamper-proof audit trail for raw materials while selectively publishing data and maintaining confidentiality. Its proprietary Smart Questioning technology enables brands, OEMs and manufacturers to share traceability-related information, including proof of origin. It also enables the disclosure of environmental indicators such as carbon footprints, as well as information on the company's compliance with Sustainable Development Goals and third-party certifications towards customers and regulators, while preserving privacy over sensitive information.
“Circularise’s digital technology has the potential to provide visibility and enable improved decision making when it comes to sustainable raw material sourcing,” says Terumasa Watanabe, Senior Operating Officer, head of Plastics Business at Marubeni.
In September 2020, Circularise secured €1.5M in grant funding from the European Commission, and was recognized as a provider of solutions to promote Circular Economy. The company is now looking towards the Japanese and Asian markets, the next step towards its goal of contributing to the realisation of a sustainable society where all supply chain actors are ‘in the position to implement circular economy practices at scale’, said Jordi de Vos, Circularise founder.