Special page: “Ready to Act?! Plastic Waste”

We are undertaking a project known as BRING^TM, in which we collect used and discarded clothes and turn them into resources. Currently we are collecting clothes at more than 4,000 locations nationwide. Of the clothes we gather, those that can still be worn are reused, and those that are no longer wearable are separated according to the material and recycled. We use a special chemical recycling technology we developed ourselves to recycle 100% polyester clothing. We break the polyester down on a molecular level, remove any contaminations and then regenerate polyester using the resulting material. This recycled polyester is almost the same quality as polyester made from petroleum. We use this recycled polyester to make clothes that that will last for a long time.
Our collection boxes have pictures of bees on them. This evokes image of creating new resources by collecting clothes, just as bees gather nectar. We want to make this an opportunity for people to consider “the ways we interact with clothes” and “clothes’ (resources’) lifecycle,” through a mechanism in which “clothes are collected and recycled, and return as new clothes again.”

We run a package-free shop in Mitaka City, Tokyo where consumers can buy local food ingredients and everyday goods, in the quantities they actually need. At mainstream supermarkets, rice is sold in fixed weights such as 5 kilograms or 10 kilograms, wrapped in plastic or other material. At our store, we sell rice by having our customers bring along their own containers to fill them with only the amount of rice they want. We also recommend package-free shops to, for example, people who live alone and cannot use up a whole bottle of soy sauce. We aim to be a store that is kind to both people and the environment, by reducing not only plastic waste, but also waste of food and money.
In addition to rice and seasonings, the store also handles a variety of ingredients, including dry goods and spices. When we explain to customers about the products and how to weigh them to determine the price, it often turns into a lively conversation. We explain how we choose the foods and ingredients, and talk about how it is indeed more convenient to use plastics, at times. It is our hope that through those conversations, we can search for a new lifestyle together.

We are a chemical company that makes detergents, shampoos and similar products. We have reduced a lot of plastic waste by selling refill packs that consume fewer materials compared, to bottles, so customers can just refill bottles they already have. Currently, we are studying whether it is possible to recycle these refill packs. Refill packs can also be made into raw material for plastics – known as pellets – by washing them and finely breaking them down, then melting and solidifying them. If the resulting material is melted once again and thinly stretched out, it can be made into the new refill packs.
However, there are also challenges. Refill packs are made by combining various types of plastics to make them resistant to moisture, light, and other factors. Refill packs that have been remade by melting and then solidifying all these plastics together end up providing reduced performance. Additionally, because the original colors are blended together during the melting phase the recycled packs end up taking up an overall greenish color. And the problems are not just technical – will it be an issue to convince customers to separate their refill packs for collection as an extra waste stream?

We are a company that was set up to attempt to resolve environmental problems with science and technology. Our aim is a world in which more waste is collected from, than leached into nature by 2040. We have created a system that utilizes A.I. to study where waste is ending up and in what quantities, thus making it possible to plan cleanup actions efficiently. We have studied how microplastics are actually leaching into the environment, leading to action to reduce plastic waste by identifying its causes.
Pirika, a litter collection social media platform, was created with the goal of making picking up litter enjoyable. Through a smartphone app, users can post records of the litter they have picked up themselves, or send “thank you” messages to other users. Doing something because it is fun is more likely to engage a larger number of people than doing something just because it should be done. Already, a cumulative total of more than 200 million pieces of litter has been picked up in over 100 countries and regions.

We have developed a plant-based, biodegradable material that replaces plastics. Like plastics, it is a material whose shape can be changed by applying heat, to make it into various products. “Biodegradable” means that microorganisms in the soil can break down this material to carbon dioxide and water over time, just as wood rots when left in the soil for a long time. Normally, plastics do not biodegrade in the natural world, which is a problem. The biodegradable material that we have created will break down naturally, not only in the soil, but in the sea as well.
My job is to adjust the hardness and other qualities of this material according to the purpose, to make spoons and straws. There are undoubtedly many situations where the global environment could be prioritized by using our biodegradable material, but I think there are also situations where the priority is on ease of use, so other plastics should be used. Good for the environment, or ease of use? We want to consider what should have priority, together with our customers.