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FEATURES
April 17, 2026
The future of resource recycling, envisioned by a company that transforms endings into beginnings.
LOUNGE | Marukoh: President Hitoshi Watanabe / Managing Director Shunsuke Watanabe
What did you throw away today? A plastic bottle, a snack wrapper, some paper scraps. Or perhaps the receipt you stuffed into your pocket at the convenience store. Most people never consider where these items go once they’re discarded. They’re either burned, buried, or piled up somewhere. Broadly speaking, it’s one of those fates. But there’s a father and son who find the idea of such a vague destination wasteful.
Text by TSUZUMI Aoyama | Photograph by KEN Takayanagi | Interview by OPENERS
Marukoh, headquartered in Chiba Prefecture, is a company that transforms waste into solid fuel. It is led by President Hitoshi Watanabe and his son, Managing Director Shunsuke Watanabe. Hitoshi entered this industry 42 years ago, at the age of 18. In the terms of that era, it was a "3K" or even "4K" job: kitsui (tough), kitanai (dirty), kowai (scary), and kurushii (painful). That was the reality of the industrial waste sector, and Hitoshi navigated its depths to support his family.
Collecting, sorting, and processing waste. It’s a necessary job for society, yet no one ever called it "cool." And now, an era has arrived where this work is transforming into an industry essential for the Earth’s current environment.
“Unless economic activities are conducted with the environment in mind, the world will not change.” These words, exchanged with a former deputy minister of the Environment Ministry, solidified something within Hitoshi.
How to Produce Alternative Fuels with Clean Energy
Marukoh's core focus is RPF (Refuse Paper and Plastic Fuel), featured in the top photograph of this article. This is a solid fuel derived from waste, primarily made from plastic film blended with paper scraps, wood chips, and textile waste. It is used in factories and boilers as a substitute for coal and heavy oil. It is said to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 30% compared to fossil fuels, with an annual production volume of 24,000 tons. The "burnable waste" collected from Tokyo and the surrounding Kanto region is transformed here.
However, RPF technology has existed for over 20 years. There’s no novel magic involved. So, where does Marukoh's uniqueness lie? It lies in the energy used for its production.
The renewable energy generated by a mega solar power plant adjacent to the factory is used for RPF production. This product is named "G-RPF," or Green RPF, and a trademark application is pending.
The renewable energy ratio in the manufacturing process exceeds 90%. For the entire factory, it reaches nearly 50%, and this year, the company aims to establish a system for 100% self-consumption by sharing power between two factories.
“RPF uses an enormous amount of electricity, honestly,” Shunsuke says with a laugh. No matter how much CO2 is reduced, if the electricity source is fossil fuels, the balance won't add up. That’s precisely why they are changing the power source.
The logic is simple. Yet, companies that actually operate this way are virtually non-existent across Japan today.
We Want to Convey That This is a Proud and Wonderful Profession
Let’s step away from business for a moment.
When Shunsuke was young, his father, Hitoshi, always came home in his work clothes. Fathers at other families wore suits. That difference made him feel ashamed. Shunsuke believes many second and third-generation individuals raised in this industry share the same sentiment. After dedicating his youth to soccer, his professional dreams were dashed, and he became a salaried worker in a suit. During that time, he had almost zero interest in his father's work.
A turning point came one day when he visited his father's company.
The "self-imposed 3Ks" he had in his mind were nowhere to be found. Instead, he saw a workplace where young people were smiling and working with vigor. The image Shunsuke held was shattered in an instant.
“I realized I had been mistaken,” Shunsuke says. Around the age of 30, his perspective on his father began to change, and with it came the words, “I’m sorry.”
Just as he felt ashamed of his father's work, the children of the employees working at the company today might harbor the same sense of inferiority. That is an unfortunate situation for the employees. Isn't the root of this unhappiness the fact that society hasn't let go of the image of "garbage collectors"?
“We need to create an opportunity to invigorate the industry and convey how wonderful it is.” He began to feel this way around the time he entered his thirties.
From "Waste Disposal Industry" to "Resource Recycling Industry"
Let's call the "waste disposal industry" the "resource recycling industry." This linguistic shift, advocated by Shunsuke, redefines the very nature of the work. The era of simply disposing of waste is over. It involves collecting, sorting, and recycling it as energy. They are repositioning themselves as an industry that handles this entire process as manufacturing.
Furthermore, President Hitoshi uses the terms "arterial industry" and "venous industry." While the arterial flow involves manufacturing, consumption, and disposal, the venous system collects and recycles waste. Like the human circulatory system, the body of society cannot function if either is lacking. This venous industry, once considered the "shadow," is finally coming into the spotlight as we aim for a sustainable society that effectively utilizes the Earth's limited resources.
The factory's exterior walls are intentionally made with fences. Visitors can observe the process of waste transforming into fuel and the employees at work. While waste treatment facilities were traditionally enclosed by walls, Hitoshi has always envisioned a place where neighbors could casually visit, perhaps for a cup of tea, like a park.
“There’s no such thing as garbage in the world.”
Marukoh is currently involved in a discreet project with a major convenience store group. It's an initiative where Marukoh collects all the waste discarded in the convenience store bins and transforms it into RPF. Only a handful of businesses in Japan hold permits to convert municipal waste into fuel. This RPF conversion of convenience store waste marks a first in the country. Shunsuke mentions that if it proves successful, they plan to issue a press release.
They also continue environmental education programs for approximately 1,700 children across 17 elementary schools in Chiba Prefecture. When the items on their desks are sorted, there is no waste left at the end. Children who realize that everything was a resource exclaim, “There’s no such thing as garbage in the world.”
That realization is then brought home and spreads to the community. Perhaps "garbage" is merely a name for something whose use has yet to be determined.
And then there are the sunglasses being manufactured in Sabae, made from 100% recycled plastic bottle caps. The frames are made from reused caps, and the lenses are biodegradable, designed to decompose if buried in the earth. The concept is to promote a culture of protecting eyes from intense UV rays among children and students. They aim to gradually change the Japanese atmosphere where children wearing sunglasses might be seen as "showing off."
Changes Are Also Occurring in Recruitment
Students who resonate with the company's purpose listen intently during information sessions. However, the obstacle lay outside the students themselves. Parents often want their children, who they've sent to university, to join prestigious companies. When a student withdrew their acceptance due to parental opposition, Hitoshi took the step of inviting those parents to the factory for an explanation session. He did so with the resolve of saying, "Please entrust your daughter to my company."
An era has arrived where new employees from Toyama move to Tokyo simply because they want to contribute to the natural environment.
“The waste disposal industry and 'garbage collectors' can coexist within a larger industry. Garbage collectors can continue their work as they are. But we aim to be at the forefront, becoming a part of what is called the resource recycling industry,” says Shunsuke.
Shunsuke adds that he doesn't intend to deny the industry at all. It is a declaration of generational change, built upon respect for the foundation his father has laid over 42 years, aiming to overlay a new definition of industry upon it.
Arterial and venous. Light and shadow. Disposal and recycling. In an era where all values are being overturned, Marukoh has arrived at the right time.
What you threw away this morning might become someone's fuel. Doesn't that thought make you want to pause for just a moment in front of the trash can?
Hitoshi Watanabe
President, Marukoh. After graduating from high school, he began assisting with his father's individual business, Marukoh Paper Industry (later renamed Marukoh and incorporated), which focused on scrap collection and paper recycling. From the age of 20, he entered various new business ventures. He has since worked to transition the company from a waste disposal business to a resource recycling business. Currently, he is focused on global warming countermeasures with a theme of decarbonized management.
Shunsuke Watanabe (right)
Managing Director, Marukoh. From a young age, he was immersed in soccer, playing as a forward for Funabashi Municipal High School in the National High School Soccer Championship. After his professional soccer dreams were cut short due to injury, he worked in office consulting. He joined Marukoh at the age of 25. Since then, he has been involved in sales, factory management, and planning/operations within the industrial waste disposal sector, actively engaging in various communications and initiatives to elevate the industry.
Becoming an Earth-Friendly Company: Decarbonized Management with "RPF Utilization"
By Hitoshi Watanabe, Shunsuke Watanabe / Sai-do, Inc. / ¥1980 (incl. tax)
Since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has generated the energy needed for life by burning coal, oil, and other resources. There is no doubt that the development of corporate economies worldwide owes much to such energy. The resulting greenhouse gases, including CO2, have increased dramatically over the past 200 years, and particularly since 2005, they have continued to rise at an alarming rate.
This book proposes concrete actions for companies to achieve increased profitability while protecting the global environment through "decarbonized management" for the future. It also presents numerous benefits that companies can gain, such as cost reduction, enhanced corporate brand image, strengthened competitiveness, risk management, long-term stability, and the creation of new business opportunities, alongside environmental measures.
By implementing the practices outlined in this book, you can take the first step towards becoming a company that is both environmentally friendly and highly profitable, loved by its employees and society. In essence, your actions after reading this book will become the "next-generation energy" that illuminates both the future of the planet and your company.
(From the Introduction)
This book proposes concrete actions for companies to achieve increased profitability while protecting the global environment through "decarbonized management" for the future. It also presents numerous benefits that companies can gain, such as cost reduction, enhanced corporate brand image, strengthened competitiveness, risk management, long-term stability, and the creation of new business opportunities, alongside environmental measures.
By implementing the practices outlined in this book, you can take the first step towards becoming a company that is both environmentally friendly and highly profitable, loved by its employees and society. In essence, your actions after reading this book will become the "next-generation energy" that illuminates both the future of the planet and your company.
(From the Introduction)