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Project to Prevent Litter Contamination of the Natural Environment Selected for Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund Grant

May 30, 2024


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
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.

Company Profile

Name Pirika, Inc.
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

https://corp.pirika.org/en/

Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund

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.

Members of Pirika (CEO Fujio Kojima on the left)Members of Pirika (CEO Fujio Kojima on the left)
The "Takanome" litter distribution research serviceThe "Takanome" litter distribution research service

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

    Secure sustainable supply of essential products

  • Enhance quality of life

    Enhance quality of life

  • Create an eco-friendly society

    Create an eco-friendly society

  • Develop talent leading to value creation

    Develop talent leading to value creation

  • Build an organization with integrity

    Build an organization with integrity

Information

For inquiries on this matter, please contact

Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
Corporate Communications Division
Telephone: +81-80-5912-0321
Facsimile: +81-3-3285-9819
Contact form