Toray, Toho Tenax, a subsidiary of Teijin, and Mitsubishi Rayon will team up with Mitsui Mining to launch a carbon fiber recycling business. The three firms will collect composite materials derived from impregnating carbon fiber with resin from aircraft manufacturers, and distribute them after removing the resin as a powdery regenerated carbon fiber. They will outsource the production of regenerated carbon fiber to Mitsui Mining and are coordinating the establishment of a special facility in Omuta city in Fukuoka. The investment will initially be around 400 million yen and the first year's production capacity is expected to be 400 tons.

Demand for the use of carbon fiber in both airplanes and sports products is growing due to its lightness and strength, but carbon fiber scrap has usually been discarded and buried. Because the three top companies, collectively holding a 70 % share of the global carbon fiber market, are to jointly set up the recycling system, expansion in demand, and in applications of carbon fiber, is likely to receive a boost.