Lightweight soil Trim Co., Ltd.

Okinawa-based company Trim works across a number of areas including food distribution and sales, education and environmental improvement; it runs a number of pubs and taverns. But it's the recycling division, under Representative Director and President Iwao Tsuboi, which has grown from a side business to become Trim's flagship initiative.

The recycling business came in part out of the empty bottles produced in Trim's bars. Company personnel studied the recycling options available and found them to be too complex or resource-intensive. Consequently, they responded by creating their own glass-recycling process. The result was Supersol.

To make Supersol, unlike in most other recycling processes, the base material doesn't need to be cleaned or treated-in any way. Labels can still be affixed, and the bottles don't need to be sorted by color. The glass is loaded into a receptacle, crushed, then ground into a powder. The powder is then mixed with a proprietary formula of natural additives and baked. The mixture foams and swells about fourfold, meaning better returns from the base powder product than in most other recycling processes. The entire production line and machinery used was developed and designed by Trim.

Supersol is a chemically stable product, as its raw material is glass, and it resembles volcanic rock but has a weight closer to urethane foam. It's clean, water-permeable, water-retentive, and its uses are numerous-Supersol has already been used as a lightweight soil additive for farming, water filtration and civil engineering. Its properties also make it an ideal substance for rainwater capture and storage instead of concrete tanks because it inhibits corruption. Because of its light weight, it's especially useful in urban areas and can be used in gardens and green areas on top of structures. Even Tsuboi himself doesn't know all the applications Supersol could have. And every customer has fresh ideas on how to use this revolutionary product.

Rather than selling Supersol itself to customers outside Okinawa, Trim sells the machinery and systems to set up Supersol production plants. This allows for recycling-based society, ensuring transportation costs, both monetary and environmental, are kept to a minimum.

Apart from a number of Supersol plants in Japan, there are plans in place to set one up in Taiwan. Trim has also been approached by customers in New Zealand and nations of Southeast Asia. As points of contact to facilitate communication, its current export model relies on Japanese expatriates abroad who are looking to either start or expand upon their business interests. Being Japanese, they can communicate easily with Trim staff and also have reliable knowledge about the culture of doing business in the countries where they live, ensuring that they are conscientious and pay attention to details. Expats living and working overseas also understand the unique challenges faced by those nations and how Supersol can be used as a solution. Given the adaptability of its products, this kind of guidance can help Trim realize the innovative ways overseas partners can use Supersol.