EPR Law Forces Brand Owners to Pay for Packaging Waste Management Down to the Customer

Cosmo Oil announced on the 17th that it will begin utilizing naphtha co-produced in the SAF manufacturing process together with Maruzen Petrochemical, Ube-Maruzen Polyethylene, and SAFFAIRE SKY ENERGY. At the SAF production facility within Cosmo Oil's Sakai Refinery, naphtha obtained during the production of SAF from waste cooking oil will be utilized as a raw material for chemicals. SAFFAIRE SKY ENERGY will produce the naphtha, Cosmo Oil will supply it, Maruzen Petrochemical will produce basic chemicals, and Ube-Maruzen Polyethylene will produce polyethylene for development into plastic products. The four companies plan to expand supply volumes and develop applications going forward, aiming to contribute to decarbonization in the chemical, textile, and packaging sectors.

The OECD's Climate Club Financial Toolkit 2026 Update, published in June 2026, states that the competitiveness of Bio-Ethylene in Thailand is undermined by an excise tax on domestically produced ethanol of 6 baht per litre and import duties on imported ethanol. The OECD proposes reviewing the relevant rules so that ethanol used to produce bioplastics can qualify for a zero tax rate, and points to licensing restrictions and regulations on the production and sale of alcohol that need to be adjusted to accommodate the use of ethanol as a feedstock in the bioplastics industry. The report also notes that Braskem and SCG Chemicals plan to develop a Bio-Ethylene production project in Thailand with a capacity of about 200,000 tonnes per year, targeting the start of production in 2027, compared with Braskem's Bio-Ethylene capacity in Brazil of about 260,000 tonnes per year. Meanwhile, the OECD's modelling shows that the production cost of Bio-Ethylene is more than three times that of conventional Ethylene, and that PLA costs about 2.6 times as much as the reference plastic in the model. The European Union began applying its Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, or PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40, on 12 August 2026 to drive the transition of the packaging industry.

Global Green Chemicals Public Company Limited (GGC) and CP AXTRA Public Company Limited (CP AXTRA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to study the feasibility of collecting used cooking oil from CP AXTRA branches, as well as its group companies and network, to improve its quality and create new value in line with the circular economy concept. It is expected that approximately 50,000 liters of used cooking oil can be collected per year, to be used as feedstock for producing sustainable aviation fuel, bioplastics, and biochemicals. Dr. Krisada Prasertsukho, Managing Director of GGC, said that this collaboration is an important opportunity to study alternative feedstocks and add value from used resources. Meanwhile, Mrs. Siriporn Dechasingh, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer of CP AXTRA, said that this collaboration reflects the practical application of circular economy principles, and if the study is successful, there is potential to expand into the production of sustainable aviation fuel, which would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector.