Plastic waste management in Japan
Hisao IDA, Osamu SAKAGUCHI
Plastic Waste Management Institute, JAPAN
3-7-6, Nihonbashi-Kayabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, JAPAN

TEL：+81-3-6855-9175 FAX：+81-3-5643-8447

Abstract
Since its establishment, PWMI has been advocating the voluntary and collaborative efforts among industries, citizens andmunicipalities. Nowadays 78% of plastic waste are used as resources effectively again. It can be said that plastic waste wasconsidered to be useful resources rather than worthless garbage. The dramatic change moving from a throwaway society toa recycling-style economy may be attributed to several factors, i.e. legal system, technology development and public
education and so on. On these factors, several examples and topics are described on this article.
Keywords: Consumers conscience, Business morality, Government policy

Abstract
1. Plastic waste flow in Japan
In Japan approximately 10 million tons of waste plastic
is discharged every year. In 2011, plastic production
volume was 11.6 million tons, and 9.9 million tons wereconsumed. Then 9.5 million tons of waste plastic weredischarged, from pre-consumer and post-consumer
sources.
And 78% of the total discharged plastic waste wasrecovered, 26% of "material-recovery" and 52% of"energy-recovery". The utilization rate has been
continuing to rise every year. It was below 50% before
2001. In recent years, it is rising to near 80%.
Analyzing the differences of the recovery and recycling
method between industrial waste and domestic waste, it
is clear that in case of municipal plastic waste, portion ofmaterial recovery is smaller than the case of industrial
waste. It is because of the fact that from household
waste, it is often difficult to collect a single material
separately.
Analyzing mechanically recycled post-consumer plastic
according to discharged sources it can be said that whena collection system suitable for the type of plastic andsuitable for the sources is established, we can use thepost-consumer waste plastic for mechanical recycling
properly.

2. Case studies on voluntary collection(1) PET bottle
The flow chart analysis of PET bottle compiled by thecouncil of PET bottle recycling shows that around 62% ofPET bottles are collected by municipalities. 38% arecollected by voluntary basis. From municipalities, around
65% of collected bottles are recycled through designatedbody route. 35% are recycled through independent route.

In late years over 95% of municipalities have sorted
collection systems of PET bottles. In addition, voluntarycollection ratio remains high level, between 30% and40%. By the combination of these collection routes andrecycling route, the collection rate of PET bottles inJapan is very higher than in other countries.
(2) PSP food tray
In case of the recovery of the PSP food tray, the role ofthe voluntary efforts of businesses plays a larger role
than the role of municipalities' collection.
(3) Agriculture plastic
Under the Japanese legal system, industries haveresponsibility to manage plastic waste from industrialsites. It is not municipalities' responsibility.
There are examples of collaborative efforts of industries
to collect post-use plastic, which enables high quality
recovery of plastic. The recovery rate of post-use
agricultural plastic has been increasing very rapidly.
In 1999, PVC agricultural film industry has worked withorganizations of farmers, and built a recycling system ineach province. Since 2007, the system covers
throughout the agricultural film, including PO film..
(4) PVC pipes and fittings
The growth of recovery rate of PVC pipes and fittings canbe attributed another system .
PVC Pipe Fittings Association, in cooperation withrecycling companies and constructors, created a systemof collection and recycling in 1998. Currently, the numberof collection sites amounts to 86 locations across thecountry.
The recycling system also is promoting the reuse ofrecycled PVC.
(5) EPSThe majority of EPS ends its life as containers andcushioning materials after use at wholesale markets,

7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013)
New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013

supermarkets, department stores, electrical retailers andother stores.
To facilitate recycling efforts by these waste dischargers,
Japan EPS Association, JEPSA, works to help themdevelop recycling system, and is also directly involved inrecycling activities through the "EPSY Plaza" operated byits members.

3 Discussion
As is stipulated in the basic provisions of the Japanesebasic law for establishing a 3R (Reduce, Reuse andRecycling) oriented and sustainable society, it isimportant that every industries and citizens act
proactively and voluntarily, while sharing roles based ontechnological and economic potential. "Consumersconscience", "business morality" and "government policy"
are important factor for realising this concept.
(1) Consumers' conscience.
For Japanese people, the garbage sorting has become
their lifestyle.
Why does the Japanese citizen work on garbage
classification proactively?
The reason is not penal provisions of laws. Rather it
seems the attitude stems from conscience of citizens.
The result of a governmental public opinion survey
pertaining to contribution to society shows that year byyear, citizens become eager to contribute to society moreand more.The environmental conservation activity is oneof the top activities as such kind of the contribution.
Another governmental public opinion survey shows that
more than two third of citizens answer that "garbage
separation" and "empty bottles cleaning" are their daily
behavior.Nearly half of citizens think that cooperation
with the store collection of recyclables is a matter of daily
behavior.

However, many of facilities have only small andinefficient generation capacity. So the switch to highefficiency system (at least more than 10% of generationefficiency) becomes the urgent business.

4Conclusions

Nowadays 78% of plastic waste is used as resources
effectively in Japan. It can be said that plastic waste wasconsidered to be useful resources rather than worthlessgarbage. The dramatic change moving from a throwaway
society to a recycling-style economy may be attributed toseveral factors, i.e. legal system, technology
development and public education and so on.
Although measures for collection and recovery differ
from products to products, it is noteworthy that“consumers’ conscience”, “business morality” and “policyof municipal government” play important roles among
other factors for enhancing recovery rate of plastic waste.

(2) Voluntary initiative by industiries
As mentioned above, voluntary collection plays animportant role in collection of the recyclable garbage fromthe home as I mentioned before.
In additon, the voluntary design guidelines for designatedPET bottles is noteworthy.
These are other aspects of voluntary efforts bybusinesses, for the purpose of ensuring high quality
recycling.
(3). Municipalities' policy.
There are approximately 1700 municipalities in Japan.
These municipalities take a role to process daily
households garbage for the purpose to keep the hygieneof residents. The municipality is also active to separate
collection. More than 95% does the separation of PET
bottles, approximately 60% are working for plastic
containers and packaging..
"Energy-recovery" without segregation is also aneffective option for municipalities.There are 1211
municipal garbage incineration facilities in Japan. Amongthem, 791 facilities have energy recovery capacity, and314 facilities have electric generation capacity.
7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013)
New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013