Inside Japan’s plastic wrapping obsession

But whereas different international locations have been waging a struggle on single-use plastic for years, Japan has been gradual to the sport.

However, that is perhaps about to vary. This month the Japanese authorities launched a compulsory price of between three and 5 yen (three to five cents) for every plastic bag, matching a transfer that has already been made within the UK and the US.

Is this an indication Japan is lastly able to sort out its love affair with plastic?

The energy of plastic

Japan’s obsession with plastic dates again to the ’60s and ’70s, in response to Roy Larke, a professor at Waikato University and editor of market intelligence website JapanConsuming. Back then, Japan was considered because the world’s manufacturing facility, however as its economic system boomed the nation sought to remodel its picture from a maker of low-cost merchandise to a premium retailer.

Manufacturers paid extra consideration to packaging to attraction to customers in search of high quality, and the requirements had been strengthened by retailers who stay satisfied that consumers desire elaborate wrapping.

“The big retailers see themselves as acting as arbiters of quality for the customer, so they will reject substandard packaging that is too simple,” says Larke.

The choice for packaging extends to meals — for hygiene in addition to look.

In 1993, anthropologist Joy Hendry argued in her ebook “Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation in Japan and Other Societies” {that a} choice for wrapping meals in plastic is an inherent a part of the Japanese tradition of customer support, or omotenashi.

Cheaper objects can seem extra upmarket when wrapped in plastic, Hendry writes. It gives the look {that a} retailer is offering a greater, extra thoughtful service.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle?”

Japan could devour a variety of plastic, nevertheless it additionally promotes recycling as a noble civic endeavor, in response to Jeongsoo Yu, an environmental skilled and vice dean at Tohoku University.

There’s even a nationwide mantra for it: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

But whereas Japan’s method to sorting waste seems refined, in actuality the nation’s recycling system is being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of plastic.

That sounds excessive — and it’s — however there’s an vital caveat to the determine, says Chisato Jono, a spokeswoman at Greenpeace in Japan.

When folks type their plastic waste and throw it out, they assume it’s changed into a brand new plastic product, says Jono.

That, nonetheless, creates one other drawback. Jono says as soon as Japan’s plastic waste passes into one other territory, it is inconceivable to know the way different nations handle it. “We don’t know if (the plastic) is being recycled properly in ways that don’t affect people’s health in the process,” she says.

But with China banning plastic waste imports in August 2017, plastic waste is piling up in Japan, with many storage services reaching saturation ranges, in response to Yu.

For occasion, in 2017, Japan exported round 75,000 tons of plastic waste to China. That determine fell to 45,971 tons in 2018, following Beijing’s ban, with Japan redirecting plastic waste exports to Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand, in response to a spokesman on the Plastic Waste Management Institute.

Those international locations are transferring to scale back plastic waste imports, however haven’t got an outright ban — but.

Yu, the environmental skilled, says that folks in Japan often suppose they’ve accomplished their bit once they wash their plastic containers and neatly type their trash. But in actuality, the plastic waste drawback will proceed to develop until folks change their behaviors by, for instance, refusing to purchase merchandise packaged in plastic.

“This would encourage retailers to rethink their packaging,” says Yu.

Turning to innovation

On the native degree, some locations in Japan have been taking motion to scale back the usage of plastics.

The residents of Kamikatsu in southern Japan, a city with a inhabitants of 1,490, have been following a “zero-waste” coverage since 2003. The scheme goals to prioritize waste prevention by educating customers to put money into reusable home goods.

Waste — together with plastic, paper, meals scraps and glass — is separated into 45 classes, which may be collected, exchanged or recycled.

Residents are additionally inspired to keep away from single-use merchandise by a scheme that rewards customers with factors once they refuse disposable plastic objects like plastic baggage, for instance, says Midori Suga, a spokeswoman from the Kamikatsu council. Those factors can then be banked and used to purchase different reusable objects, she says.

Any remaining trash that may’t be recycled — comparable to tissue paper — is incinerated, for now.

The future

While the nationwide plastic bag price rule marks a significant transfer to curb Japan’s reliance on plastics, Larke cautioned that the cost is perhaps too low to discourage repeat offenders.

“If someone has just a bit too much to carry, particularly in a convenience store, they might buy a bag. But if the fee was 10 yen (9 cents) or higher it would be different story,” he says.

Larke added, nonetheless, that buyers in Japan had been genuinely dedicated to recycling, and that suppliers might reverse buyer expectations on plastic packaging in the event that they constructed that into their advertising.

Yu says there is a want now greater than ever to transition from being a “throwaway society to an eco-friendly society.” Following traits seen throughout a lot of the growing world, extra Japanese individuals are opting to make use of reusable bottles and baggage.

But people want to understand how a lot their attitudes can shift enterprise fashions, says Jono.

“Some businesses in Japan are scared that shoppers will complain if they don’t hand them items in plastic bags, but if customers say they don’t need them, businesses will be more inclined to change, too,” says Jono.

Attitudes are slowly altering. In 2018, Japan induced a stir by becoming a member of the US in refusing to signal the G7 Pact to scale back their use of single-use plastics and stop plastic air pollution.

However, the next 12 months Japan dedicated to decreasing disposable plastic waste by 25% by 2030 — and to reuse or recycle 60% of all plastic packaging and containers by the identical 12 months.

Businesses are additionally doing their half.

Jono argues the answer is not to create various biodegrable plastics, however to consider methods of eliminating the usage of plastics altogether. She cites examples of supermarkets promoting rice and beans in dispensers, permitting folks to deliver their very own containers and resolve how a lot they wish to purchase. She additionally suggests having a look again at what Japan did finest previously.

“Thirty years ago, Japan didn’t use single-use plastics. People used to wrap things in newspaper or transport food items in “furoshiki” (a special cloth) that could be used over and over again,” says Jono.

“My family used to bring a cooking pan to the tofu shop to carry the tofu home. We need to look back on that.”