Question: CLOMA has come out with an action plan, which serves as a road map for its activity. Could you give us some details of the plan?

Sawada: CLOMA has already started wide-ranging collaborative efforts between member companies to reduce the amount of plastic used in products. These efforts include sharing technological information that can contribute to developing alternative materials.

Needless to say, while we must give 100 percent for these efforts, this alone won’t lead to fundamentally solving the problem of plastic waste. We also need a vision to promote plastic recycling.

Question: For example, for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, a highly sophisticated recycling system has been established in Japan, correct?

Sawada: It has. But most other types of plastic waste are incinerated for thermal recovery.

If we aim to recycle all plastic containers and packaging, we need knowledge about materials, multifaceted collaboration between member companies and cooperative relationships with the manufacturing industry and the government. CLOMA’s role is to promote these things.

Strength of collaboration

Question: Japanese companies have implemented measures to address environmental issues through innovation in many areas, including materials development and promotion of recycling, not just for PET bottles. A structure for disposing of waste centered on local governments has also been established.

What kinds of efforts and viewpoints do you think are needed to develop these individual efforts into a society-wide structure and make them more efficient?

Also, one of CLOMA’s principles is to “optimize the combination of technology development and social systems to accelerate social implementation.” What actions will be needed to meet this principle?

Sawada: In my view, in order to develop individual efforts into a society-wide structure, it’s important to make all plastic containers and packaging recyclable and centralize recycling

PET bottles, typically used for drinks, do not have much content residue (when recycling), but many other plastic containers and packaging are often soiled with food residue. We need to make them recyclable while trying to reduce the burden on households.

As amounts of recyclable trash differ from region to region, it’s not efficient if different local governments recycle separately from each other. It is important for local governments to coordinate efforts and make it possible to transport recyclable waste to centralized recycling facilities.

To further advance recycling, technologies for cleaning and crushing waste materials are indispensable. Additionally, knowledge and technologies for materials other than plastics need to be linked. These are aspects where the strengths of CLOMA can be put to great use because multifaceted collaboration across industries is our forte.

A salient feature of the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance, or CLOMA, established in January 2019, is the significant variety of its member companies.

It includes companies spanning upstream and downstream portions of the supply chain; this means not only materials makers, but also food and everyday item-makers that use containers and packaging, logistics and retail companies, in addition to those operating recycling services. Participating entities totaled 335 as of May 27.

Japan, which is not blessed with abundant natural resources, has actively sought effective ways to use resources and established systems to reduce negative environmental impact.

However, marine plastic waste is now a global issue that cannot be overcome by just one country. That is why CLOMA was established with the aim of bringing together Japanese industry’s technologies and expertise, acquired over many years, toward accelerating innovation and promoting society-wide cooperation.

CLOMA’s road map

Since its inception, CLOMA has promoted sharing technological information that facilitates selecting optimum alternative materials for different purposes. The alliance has also advanced efforts to match companies in industries, including logistics, food and consumer goods, that are interested in new technologies for overcoming the plastic waste issue. In mid-May, it came out with the “CLOMA Action Plan” that will guide its activities.

The plan’s overall aim is to recycle 60 percent of containers and packaging by 2030 and recycle 100 percent of plastic products by 2050.

It further sets out medium- to long-term goals, specific measures to achieve them, technological issues that should be addressed and plans for tests. These efforts are covered by the following five activity areas: reducing the amount of plastic used, improving material recycling rates, developing and introducing chemical recycling technologies, developing and using biodegradable plastics and developing and using paper and cellulose materials.

In anticipation of the time when disposable plastic shopping bags are bought, rather than provided for free, efforts to develop biodegradable, disposable shopping bags have recently gained momentum.

Conventional plastics do not break down when disposed of; they remain in the environment until they are properly processed. Biodegradable plastics can, over time, be turned into water and carbon dioxide by microorganisms. If plastics feature marine biodegradability, they can greatly reduce the environmental impact on oceans and waterways.

Toppan Printing Co. and GSI Creos Corp., a major synthetic fiber manufacturer, have teamed up to develop such biodegradable products. Some of these products include shopping bags, trash bags and cutlery. The companies plan to supply these products to convenience stores in the future, after overcoming remaining hurdles such as cost reduction.

They also plan to expand the scope of uses for the manufacturing technology acquired through this joint development project, aiming to use it to manufacture film items and molded products.

Top company making inroads

Fukusuke Kogyo Co., in Shikokuchuo, Ehime Prefecture, is Japan’s largest manufacturer of disposable plastic shopping bags. The company stands to suffer as demand for such bags is expected to decrease when they cease to be free.

To counter this, the company has developed a shopping bag that is biodegradable in the ocean. The product uses a biodegradable resin derived from various materials, including corn. The bag is said to be the first of its kind in the world that can carry up to 8 kilograms, a standard that conventional counterparts are typically required to carry, and can be mass produced.

The METI Journal looks into the current plastic waste situation and efforts to develop materials and products with a low environmental load, and discusses how we can shape a sustainable future.

Changing behavior

In January, a unique idea for reducing disposable plastic shopping bags was tested at convenience stores inside government ministry buildings, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance. The test was aimed at assessing the impact on consumer behavior of putting a behavioral economics concept called Nudge theory into practice.

Organizers distributed cards with a printed message saying, “I don’t need a disposable bag,” intended for shoppers to show cashiers their preference. While similar card systems are often used at Japanese retailers, different card designs were trialed in this test to see if there was any difference in the number of shoppers who declined plastic bags.

At a store inside the METI building, cards with a design featuring a photo of a beach strewn with marine litter were used, while the cards introduced at a store at the Ministry of Finance only had the message printed on a blank background.

As the word indicates, the idea behind Nudge theory is to provide preferable options to curb people’s behavior in desired ways while respecting their freedom. The January test was part of a new initiative to explore ways to alter consumer behavior in order to reduce plastic waste through methods other than charging for disposable bags.