Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan
Panasonic Group Pavilion "NO MO NO KUNI"
To Fully Incorporate Recycled Resources

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic Holdings Corporation today held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Yumeshima site where the Panasonic Group Pavilion "NO MO NO KUNI" will be built for the EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan (Expo 2025).

The Panasonic Group aims to realize "an ideal society with affluence both in matter and mind," and has introduced a long-term environmental vision, Panasonic GREEN IMPACT, to contribute to resolving global environmental challenges. The Group is also resolved "to contribute to the life-long health, safety and comfort of each customer." The construction of "NO MO NO KUNI," under the theme "Pavilion Born of Three Cycles," will actively use recycled materials recovered from used home appliances, offcuts and waste materials from factories, and products made from scrap wood developed by Panasonic Group.

Working together with partner companies to realize recycling-oriented manufacturing based on the concept of "From Product to Product," the Panasonic Group's home appliance recycling plants are building a resource recycling scheme for recovering high-efficiency, high-purity material from used home appliances and then reusing these resources (resins, nonferrous metals, iron, etc.) in new products. This scheme will also be used for construction of the pavilion, which will actively adopt building components made from material such as iron, glass, and copper that has been recovered during the recycling of home appliances.
Material used during construction of the Panasonic Group Pavilion will be returned to the recycling scheme following the Expo, with the aim of achieving the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition's recycling rate target of 98.1% (by weight).

Recycled Iron Initiatives
Since 2013, the Panasonic Group has been working with Tokyo Steel Corporation (Tokyo Steel) to establish a resource recycling scheme in which steel scrap collected from home appliance recycling plants is reused as steel inputs for new products. This recycled steel will be used for approximately 82% of the estimated 118 tons of steel to be used in the construction of the pavilion (excluding ancillary steel frames, leased areas, and facades) and 97.1 tons, or 98%, of the main columns and beams (excluding plates for joints, etc.). Following Expo 2025, the recycled steel will be returned to Tokyo Steel and used as material for Panasonic Group products.

Recycled Glass Initiatives
The paving blocks used for the exterior of the pavilion (approx. 749 m²) will be made entirely of world-first* interlocking blocks (7% waste glass content) manufactured in cooperation with Taiheiyo Precast Concrete Industry Co., Ltd. from recycled glass from approximately 4,600 drum-type washing machines and dryers. Following Expo 2025, the Group will consider reuse of the blocks.

*The world's first interlocking blocks manufactured using recycled glass from drum-type washer/dryers; as of July 12, 2023; based on research by Panasonic Holdings Co.

Recycled Copper Initiatives
In cooperation with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and Sumiden HST Cable Ltd., approximately 100% of the copper used for the main trunk cables in the pavilion (approximately 1.2 ton) will comprise of recycled copper wire sourced from printed circuit boards in used home appliances. The copper wire will be collected after Expo 2025 and recycled.

The Panasonic Group is taking three approaches to the upcycling of scrap material from its factories: data utilization, secondary-use ecosystem, and collaboration with creators. Leveraging the know-how and mechanisms cultivated through these approaches, Panasonic plans to make use of scrap and waste material—including artificial marble used in system kitchens and prism sheets used in LCD TVs—for interior decoration and lighting, mainly in a pavilion reception room.

Products that contribute to solving social issues through resource recycling, such as PALM LOOP™, made from oil palm waste, and Sustainable Floor™, an environmentally friendly wood flooring material from Panasonic Housing Solutions Co., will be used in the pavilion's interior. PALM LOOP™ will be used for blinds in the reception room and the surface material of the automatic doors to the restrooms, while Sustainable Floor™ will be used for flooring in the reception room.

The concept of the Panasonic Group Pavilion "NO MO NO KUNI" is "Unleash your mind, body, yourself and world." In this "720° cycle," in which the 360° cycles of people and nature interact and circle around each other, "NO MO NO KUNI" will help aware of their "self in a connected world" and "the power of imagination", to envision their hopes for the future.

Construction: July 18, 2023 to January 31, 2025
Dismantling: November 1, 2025 to April 10, 2026 (TBD)