Japan Steps in to Combat Ocean Plastics Crisis

Japan is a packaging paradise, with individually wrapped food a long-standing tradition. That standard is deeply embedded in the importance of presentation and functionality. Although individually wrapped food has, in hindsight, helped contribute to notoriously low obesity rates, Japan has garnered a global reputation as a “plastic powerhouse,” with the second highest amount of disposable plastic consumed per capita after the United States.

But now growing international pressure is forcing Japan to reassess its lagging environmental policies by tackling plastic use and, in turn, adjust a modern lifestyle heavily dependent on single-use plastic packaging.

When plastics flow into the ocean, they break down into “microplastics” – defined as being under 5 millimeters in size – through exposure to ultraviolet rays and heavy waves. These particles are then ingested by fish and enter the food chain, where their toxic chemicals (such as flame retardants) wreak havoc.

The OECD estimates the outflow of plastics worldwide ranges anywhere from 4.8 million tonnes to 12.7 million tonnes per year, with main culprits being China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Future projections look grim with the United Nations estimating that by 2040 the volume of plastic in the sea will match the volume of fish. While Japan isn’t a top five plastic polluter worldwide, it’s estimated that 30 percent of the infamous Pacific garbage patch of drifting microplastics in the northern Pacific Ocean has come from Japan.

All this could be about to change, however. Japan’s Environment Ministry has devised a draft strategy looking to curb plastic pollution through two steps: reducing dependency on plastic shopping bags and promoting recycling technology to its Asian neighbors. During meetings in August, Environment Minister Masaharu Nakagawa instructed the subcommittee tasked with drafting plastic reduction targets to elevate Japan as a world leader in tackling the plastic waste crisis. By 2030 Japan will aim for a 25 percent reduction in the consumption of single-use plastics, ensuring 60 percent of all plastic packaging will be reused or recycled.

It’s the first time Japan has set numerical targets to slash plastic waste. By comparison, among the international community, the European Union has taken the lead on the issue, recently approving a ban on all single-use plastics – spanning plastic cups, plates, cutlery, straws, cotton tips, and food containers – by 2021.

Japan’s sudden enthusiasm to catch up on its anti-plastic policies is a stark transformation from the G7 meeting in June. Back then, the United States and Japan backed out of signing the “Ocean Plastics Charter,” consisting of nonbinding measures to prevent plastic waste from flowing out into the sea. Japan cited a “lack of preparedness” in explaining its decision not to join the Canada-led accord but pledged to prioritize the issue when it hosts the G20 Summit in Osaka next year.

At the ASEAN summit held in Singapore in mid-November, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support for joining international efforts to tackle the spiraling plastic waste crisis with regional neighbors. However, domestically, Japan has neglected urgent relief for overflowing waste plastics, which are currently pushing storage capacity.

Beyond the obvious problem of plastic-littered coastlines and rivers, Japan’s recycling sites, which are hidden from public view, are bursting at the seams. In January, China, a global import recycle hub, abruptly banned the import of foreign recyclable garbage, bringing recycling disposal chains around the world to a standstill. Until recently, Japan had relied heavily on exporting 1.5 million tons of recyclables to China to be processed. Beijing’s new policy has caused mounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles – which previously made up 70 percent of Japan’s recyclable exports to China – to overflow in Japan. With no established route for processing internally, domestic companies are struggling to keep up with the surge in requests to take recycling off council hands.

An Environment Ministry survey of 102 municipal governments revealed a 24.8 percent jump in plastic waste storage. Many are struggling to secure a destination to send waste for processing. In some cases the amount kept in local storage sites is exceeding legal limits.

So far, government calls for businesses to implement voluntary efforts have failed to change the shopping habits of Japanese consumers, who go through 300 to 400 single-use plastic bags annually. Under the current containers and plastic recycling law, charging customers for plastic bags is voluntary and enforced by roughly 50 percent of retailers. At supermarkets that do charge customers for shopping bags at checkout, the number of customers declining shopping bags reached its peaked at just around half, reducing the impact of the policy to next to nothing.

Before the final policy is presented at the 2019 G20 Osaka Summit, the Japan Business Federation offered a last minute recommendation to the subcommittee, reinforcing the responsibility of the law to incorporate a uniform nationwide fee for plastic shopping bags across all retailers to prevent confusion and maintain fairness.

The Japanese Environment Ministry’s draft proposal has the added pressure of reducing not only disposable shopping bags but also single-use straws and PET bottles. Microplastics such as microbeads found in toothpaste, exfoliating creams, and cleansers are also high on the agenda. In June the Diet passed legislation urging businesses such as toothpaste makers to stop using microplastics in their products – but again on a voluntary basis, without legal penalties.

Bioplastic is the latest buzzword in Japanese innovation, with the government offering subsidies to companies developing biodegradable plastic from plant material such as sugarcane ethanol. The draft policy aims to promote the latest technology by incorporating targets to increase the use of bioplastics to 2 million tonnes by 2030. But the issue of immediate cost and accessibility for consumers means it would take years for businesses to establish a competitive advantage in this emerging industry.

In Japan, while the government is introducing precautionary baby steps to tackle current lifestyle habits, small victories are being seen at large multinational corporations, which are setting the bar higher on effective action. In the private sector, chain family restaurants owned by Skylark such as Gusto will be phasing out plastic straws by the summer Olympics in 2020. Meanwhile, McDonalds Japan made headlines earlier this month by introducing recycled plastic takeaway containers and Fashion Giant H&M Japan will ban plastic bags in its stores and introduce paper bags for a fee with funds raised donated to charities cleaning up marine pollution.