Moriroku Selected for Japan’s Cabinet Office Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP): Contributing to Circular Economy by Evaluating Recycled Materials for Automotive Exterior Parts

October 23, 2025
Moriroku Co., Ltd.

Moriroku Company, Ltd. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Naoki Kurose; hereinafter referred to as “Moriroku”)has been selected as a research institution for the third phase of the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), sponsored by the Cabinet Office. The program, titled "Establishing a Circular Economy System" (Program Director: Kozo Ito, Distinguished Professor at the University of Tokyo), represents a key national initiative to advance strategic research and development.

This SIP program aims to create a cutting-edge data-driven platform that accelerates resource circulation by ensuring transparency and reliability regarding the quality and performance of recycled materials. This platform will evaluate, verify, and share data across the entire plastic recycling lifecycle, from the collection of waste plastic by recyclers, through the manufacture of recycled pellets, and finally to the re-utilization of the resulting recycled plastic in products, such as automotive components.

"Side spoiler," an exterior component manufactured by Moriroku as an evaluation part, mounted on the lower side of a vehicle.

Moriroku's Specific Role and Technical Focus

Leveraging our extensive experience in plastic processing technology, Moriroku is focusing on a crucial task central to the new circular system: evaluating the performance and quality of recycled materials used in challenging automotive parts.

Specifically, we will manufacture and conduct a rigorous quality assessment of the side spoiler, an exterior component mounted on the lower side of a vehicle. This part is particularly demanding because it requires a precise balance of aesthetic and structural performance:

Aesthetic Quality: Requiring a delicate painted finish to achieve high design, luxury, and sporty appeal.
Protection and Durability: Serving the critical function of protecting the vehicle body from road debris, mud splatter, and potential scratches during ingress and egress.
Engineering Precision: Demanding high levels of dimensional accuracy, rigidity, thermal expansion control, and ease of maintenance for repeated attachment and detachment.

By testing large, complex, and traditionally difficult-to-recycle resin components like this—parts that necessitate both design elegance and robust utility—Moriroku will pinpoint the exact challenges hindering the wider adoption of recycled materials. We are committed to solving these issues to accelerate the integration and trustworthiness of recycled content, thereby contributing to a strong circular economy system built on inter-industry cooperation.

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