"Officially, Japan recycles 84 percent of the plastic it collects, one of the highest rates in the world, but the government designates three types of recycling processes: material, chemical and thermal. Material recycling means the plastic itself is reprocessed into new plastic — PET bottles, for instance, are made into new PET products. This is probably the image of recycling that most people have. Chemical recycling means that plastic waste is broken down into its constituent components, which are then recombined to make new plastic materials. Thermal recycling means that the plastic is burned in incinerators to produce energy."

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/07/06/national/media-...

Incidentally, in Japan, PET recycling is a very small minority of all plastic collected, so it hardly moves the mark even if that part is recycled in plastic-loving Japan.