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- Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
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Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) has decided to grant a project to prevent litter contamination of the natural environment in Japan and overseas through the creation of a litter research and countermeasure action network. This project will be the second recipient of a grant from Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund.
Project name | Creation of a litter research and countermeasure action network to address the problem of litter leakage into the natural environment in Japan and overseas |
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Amount of grant | 98,068,000 yen |
Recipient | Pirika, Inc. ("Pirika", Head Office: Shibuya Ward, Tokyo) |
Issue-finder | Fujio Kojima, Representative Director and CEO |
Social issue targeted | Litter contamination of the natural environment in Japan and overseas |
In recent years, increasing quantities of litter, especially plastic, have contaminated the natural environment. This is causing widespread negative impacts in many areas, including ecosystems and industries. Like climate change, it is becoming an issue that no nation or company can afford to ignore. However, there is a significant difference from the climate change problem in the sense that there are no clearly defined methods to measure the litter contamination of the natural environment.
Pirika is a start-up company developing various services related to waste collection and litter research. Its "Takanome" service is designed to quantitatively grasp the litter situations in Japan and overseas and uses AI to survey litter distribution, including the amounts and types of litter, based on images of street litter taken by smartphone cameras installed on vehicles. The "Pirika" SNS anti-litter social platform, which boasts one of the highest number of app downloads in the world, provides a mechanism to collect and distribute information about grass-roots voluntary litter-picking activities, and their results can be observed on a single website. This platform also provides an efficient way to quantify litter-picking. Data from the platform shows that a cumulative total of 350 million pieces of litter had been picked up in 130 countries by May 2024.
Through these services, Pirika provides cleaning/litter-picking organizations, NPOs, government agencies, local governments, and other organizations with research reports about street litter, as well as proposals on litter reduction. It also uses its data to promote litter-picking activities and other countermeasures.
Through Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund, Mitsui will support the creation of a litter research and countermeasure action network covering Japan, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, using the assets and networks of Mitsui's domestic and overseas road transportation and logistics business, and thereby contribute to the acceleration of a global cycle leading to the solution of the problem of litter contamination of the natural environment in Japan and overseas.
Name | Pirika, Inc. |
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Location | Shibuya Ward, Tokyo |
Established | 2011 |
Representative | Fujio Kojima, CEO |
Employees | 29 |
Business | Surveys and research to address environmental issues, including the Takanome litter distribution research service, and the Pirika Anti-litter Social Platform |
Website |
Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund was established in March 2023 to provide grants and support for initiatives to solve social issues and realize a sustainable society through collaboration between issue finders (NPOs, researchers, social entrepreneurs, etc.) working to solve various social issues, and Mitsui officers and employees.
Mitsui’s Materiality
“Build brighter futures, everywhere” as our corporate mission, and to gain the trust and expectations of our stakeholders to realize a better tomorrow for earth and for people around the world, we have identified five material issues (“Materiality”) for Mitsui’s sustainable growth. We anticipate this particular project/ business to contribute especially to the realization of “Enhance quality of life” and “Develop talent leading to value creation”
Secure sustainable supply of essential products
Enhance quality of life
Create an eco-friendly society
Develop talent leading to value creation
Build an organization with integrity