AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies
NPIRIPS

Nakasone Yasuhiro

The Japan Institute of

Research Institute for

Peace InstituteInternational Affairs

Peace and Security

Editorial Advisory Board:

No. 274

Akio Watanabe (Chair)
Ichiro Fujisaki
Masashi Nishihara
Kenichiro Sasae

17 September 2019

Editorial Committee:
Tsutomu Kikuchi
Fumiaki Kubo
Tsuyoshi Sunohara
Shujiro Urata andYasunori Nakayama

THE MARINE PLASTIC LITTER ISSUE AT
THE OSAKA G20

Kazuo Matsushita

Editor & Online Publisher:
Kenichiro Sasae
President, JIIA・ The problem of marine pollution due to plastic
litter was expected to garner attention at theOsaka G20 as an important issue for theinternational community, and hopes were thatJapan as chair would demonstrate leadership in
this regard.
・ The

G20 Implementation Framework for
Actions on Marine Plastic Litter and the Osaka
Blue Ocean Vision were respectively adopted in
the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy
Transitions and Global Environment for
Sustainable Growth and the G20 Osaka
Leaders ’Declaration, signifying thatagreement had been reached on a goal of
reducing additional pollution due to marine
plastic litter to zero by 2050.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and should
not be attributed to The Association of Japanese Institutes ofStrategic Studies.

AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

・ To achieve this goal and steadily reduce marine plastic litter, effective
frameworks should be bolstered and countermeasures carefully implemented
in Japan, and Japan’s waste disposal systems should be put to good use inimproving the disposal capabilities of countries in Asia and elsewhere.
The issue of maritime pollution due to plastic litter garnered attention at
the G20 Summit held in Osaka in June of this year. Japanese government
officials, together with their US counterparts, drew international criticism at lastyear’s G7 summit for refusing to sign on to the Ocean Plastics Charter that
included numerical targets for reducing plastic litter, and Japan was urged toexercise leadership on this issue at the G20. Accordingly, the government
presented its Plastic Resource Recycling Strategy1 on May 31 and went into theG20 meeting advocating proper processing and 3R initiatives within Japan andgreater contributions internationally.
As much as eight million tons of plastic are currently thrown into the seaeach year, and oceans are now polluted with 150 million tons of plastic litter. It
has been forecast that, by 2050, this plastic waste will be equivalent in volume toall the fish in the oceans2. Concerns have also been raised about the impacts of
microplastics less than 5mm in size, and the adverse effects of microplastics on
ecosystems and the health hazards posed by eating seafood from such
ecosystems present new environmental risks.
The world’s annual production of plastic has grown twenty-fold over thepast 50 years. The plastic flushed into the oceans comes mainly from China,Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian countries3, and Japan ranks second
only to the US in per capita volume of plastic litter.
The dirty plastic waste generated by Japan and developed Westerncountries has been exported primarily to Asian countries in the name of resource
recycling, but the inadequate processing capabilities of many Asian countries
have resulted in numerous examples of unrecycled plastic being discarded into
1

Plastic Resource Recycling Strategy: https://www.env.go.jp/press/files/jp/111747.pdf
Id.
3
Ministry of Environment, Japan, “The Marine Plastic Litter Issue” (February 2019)2

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary2

AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

the ocean. Recycling and incineration/landfill disposal have not kept pace withthe expansion of plastic litter, and plastic that has not been properly processedor that has been intentionally discarded finds its way from rivers and beaches
into the sea. It is essential that efforts be made to reduce the use of plastic,
particularly single-use plastic, from which the marine plastic litter derives.
The G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitions and Global
Environment for Sustainable Growth reached agreement on creating aninternational framework – the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on
Marine Plastic Litter4 – under which G20 countries would implement voluntary
countermeasures to reduce marine plastic litter and continuously report andshare information on their efforts.
The G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration5 also stated: “…we share, and callon other members of the international community to also share, as a common
global vision, the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision” that we aim to reduce additional
pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050 through a comprehensive
life-cycle approach…” Bolstering effective frameworks that help achieve this goal
and that lead to steady reductions in marine plastic litter is an issue that must beaddressed in future.
Revisions to the Basel Convention proposed by the Japanese andNorwegian governments that would subject the cross-border transport of dirty
plastic waste to the same restrictions applied to that of toxic waste were adopted
in May of this year. Henceforth, plastic litter not suited for recycling will be
designated toxic waste, and exports of such waste without the consent of thereceiving countries will be banned. The signatory countries are seeking to shrink
the production of plastic litter to a minimum and to have this litter processed
domestically as far as possible.
4

G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter
https://www.env.go.jp/press/files/jp/111882.pdf
5
G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration
https://www.g20.org/en/documents/final_g20_osaka_leaders_declaration.html

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary3

AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

It is vital, too, that Japan’s exceptional systems and know-how covering
the full spectrum from the collection of litter to its processing be put to good use
in improving the processing capabilities of Asian countries.

Kazuo Matsushita is Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University and Senior Fellow, Institute of
Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).

http://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary4