Welcia Yakkyoku Implements In-Store Recycling Activities with Customer Cooperation

Welcia Yakkyoku Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Junichi Tanaka; hereinafter "Welcia Yakkyoku") announces that during the last fiscal year (March 1, 2025 - February 28, 2026), with the cooperation of its customers, it collected 2,495,864 PET bottles (54,909 kg), which suppressed CO2 emissions by 39,905 kg (equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by 2,833 cedar trees in one year), 463 kg of refill packs, and 99,500 aluminum cans (1,592 kg) at its stores.

* The above CO2 figures combine CO2 emission reduction values from horizontal recycling published by each recycling plant and CO2 absorption values of cedar trees referenced by the Kanto Regional Forest Office of the Forestry Agency.

* The number of cedar trees is merely a guideline to easily visualize the CO2 emission reduction amount and does not guarantee the numerical value.

■ Bottle-to-Bottle (PET bottle recycling)

To promote a plastic resource circular society, Welcia Yakkyoku has participated in "Bottle-to-Bottle" recycling activities since 2020, collaborating with beverage manufacturers and resource recyclers to regenerate used PET bottles into new PET bottles. As of May 2026, this initiative is being implemented in 695 stores across the Kanto, Tokai, Kansai regions, and Niigata Prefecture.

[Number of participating stores by prefecture]

Tochigi Prefecture (54), Ibaraki Prefecture (114), Saitama Prefecture (188), Shizuoka Prefecture (50), Aichi Prefecture (80), Gifu Prefecture (4), Mie Prefecture (28), Kyoto Prefecture (5), Osaka Prefecture (11), Hyogo Prefecture (75), Niigata Prefecture (80), Chiba Prefecture (6)

■ Recycreation Activities (Collection and horizontal recycling of refill packs)

Since October 2021, in collaboration with daily necessities manufacturers and logistics companies, Welcia Yakkyoku has started recycling used refill packs for detergents and shampoos. Refill packs collected at 41 stores (as of May 2026) are regenerated into blocks that can be utilized in stores and local communities to raise awareness in local society. The company is also studying technologies for horizontal recycling to reuse them as film containers and aiming to design film containers that are easier to recycle.

[Number of participating stores by prefecture]

Tokyo (22), Saitama Prefecture (7), Hyogo Prefecture (12)

■ Aluminum can recycling

Welcia Yakkyoku started recycling aluminum cans in March 2025. Cans are collected and recycled at 10 stores in Chiba Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture (as of May 2026).

[Number of participating stores by prefecture]

Chiba Prefecture (7), Kyoto Prefecture (3)

Welcia Yakkyoku will continue to expand resource collection with the cooperation of local customers, further contributing to the promotion of a circular economy and the realization of a sustainable society.

■ About Welcia Yakkyoku

Under its corporate philosophy of "Providing customers with a rich social life and healthy living," Welcia Yakkyoku primarily operates a chain of drugstores with dispensing pharmacies. It operates approximately 2,200 drugstores in 39 prefectures, based on a business model with four pillars: "dispensing pharmacies," "counseling sales," "late-night operations," and "nursing care."

The Welcia Group aims to achieve "the No. 1 health station in the region" by 2030 and is committed to contributing to the health promotion of local communities.

Welcia Yakkyoku Website: https://www.welcia-yakkyoku.co.jp/