Monday, October 18, 2021 | The Japan Times | 7

sustainable japan

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CLOMA group aims to eliminate marine plastic waste
ESG Talk
TOMOKO KAICHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance,
also known as CLOMA, an industry grouppromoting efforts to reduce marine plastic waste, has the goal of realizing the fullrecycling of plastic containers, packaging
and other products by 2050. It seeks tocoordinate all parties that can play a role
in recycling plastic — makers of materials
and consumer products, retailers, recyclers,consumers and governments — and leadefforts to accelerate innovation. Michitaka
Sawada, the first chairman of CLOMA, says
he wants the world to adopt a Japanesemodel for a solution aimed at entirely eliminating marine plastic waste.
CLOMA was established in January 2019as a joint initiative by companies involvedin the supply chain of consumer products.
In May 2020, CLOMA announced an action
plan that laid out its goals: reducing plastic
consumption, improving the rate of material recycling, developing and disseminating chemical recycling and promoting its
adoption, developing and disseminating
biodegradable plastics, developing and disseminating paper and cellulose materials,
and enhancing systems for collecting andsorting plastic waste.
The group’s members, comprising businesses and other entities, originally totaled
159 and by the end of this September had
grown to 452. CLOMA has worked toing materials, such as from laundry detergent refills, and technology for recycling
them.

strengthen ties with the central and local
governments, which are responsible fordesigning regulations on recycling and forcollecting and sorting plastic waste. Seven
local governments, including those ofTokyo, Kobe and Kitakyushu, participate inits meetings as observers.
CLOMA is rare in that it brought together
the efforts of entities across industry boundaries and also works with the public sector
to promote the adoption of innovation.
“Many small-scale initiatives have been
started by each company or in collaboration among a small number of companies,”
Sawada said. “Our role is to bring them
together into large-scale initiatives and promote them as structures that can serve asrole models to show to the country and therest of the world.”

Rivals become partners

Speedy action is the key

Sawada believes speedy action is the key.
CLOMA’s target of achieving zero plastic
waste by 2050 is predicated on an interim
goal of increasing the percentage of recycledmaterials to 60% by 2030, which he says isachievable. Sawada, for many years an engineer for research and development at Kao,says the level of Japanese companies’ recycling technology “is considerably advanced.”
It generally takes a long time to achievea goal by incrementally improving technology, which can also make it difficult tomaintain motivation among the people
involved. CLOMA’s approach, on the otherhand, is to bring together technologies
across industry boundaries and find comSawada engaged inresearch and development throughout hiscareer at Kao Corp.
before being named as
representative
director, president
and chief executive
officer in 2012.
HIROMICHI MATONO

Michitaka Sawada, chairman of the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance HIROMICHI MATONO

binations that best take advantage of eachto “create something more than the sum of
its parts,” according to Sawada. His experience as an engineer and business executivehas convinced him that such an approach isimportant.
“When it comes to addressing issues thathave significant impacts on society, such asreduction in waste plastics and decarbonization, the key is to quickly develop innovations in the initial phase and work toward
the goal while addressing issues that may

crop up on the way,” Sawada said.
“Japanese companies have raised theirtechnology levels through positive competition with their rivals,” he said. “It’s timethey brought together their technologies
and worked together toward a big commongoal.”
An example of this is a tie-up between
Kao and rival Lion Corp. In September
2020, the companies announced the deal,
in which they are cooperating on a project
to develop a system for collecting packag-

Many Japanese manufacturers of consumer goods have put efforts into reducing
plastic usage by making packages morecompact and materials thinner. They havecome up with innovative ideas on thinpackaging films, and the adoption rate ofproduct refills has reached 80% in Japan,
making it a global standout. However, films
used in refill packaging typically are layered
composites and often are incinerated afteruse. In order to promote recycling of such
films, Kao and Lion decided to share theirtechnologies and work together to develop
better film packaging, starting from the initial design phase.
They are currently working on a projectto test a recycling approach in which usedfilm packaging is collected and sorted at a
Ito-Yokado supermarket, then is shredded,
cleaned and turned into pellets, and finallyis recycled into new film packaging. They
are also preparing to enlist local governments’ cooperation in collecting packaging.
“When we complete the recycling process for film packaging, that will bring us
closer to realizing a circular economy,”
Sawada said.
CLOMA envisions leading a collaborative
framework involving companies at all levels of the plastics supply chain, from materials manufacturers to recyclers.
Further ahead, the group aims to reducecarbon dioxide emissions produced in
the recycling process. Reducing waste anddecarbonizing our society are pressing
issues that must be addressed urgently.

Consumer awareness grows

However, companies can’t maintain these
efforts if they don’t stay in business. Thereis also the issue of technological difficulties.
That is why CLOMA recognizes the needfor businesses to pass on some of the cost

Sawada directed his efforts toward launching
the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance.
HIROMICHI MATONO

of these efforts to consumers by including itin the pricing of their products.
“Awareness of environmental issues
has grown [among Japanese consumers],
especially among younger generations, but
their awareness about the need for consumers to share the cost [for environmental measures] still remains low comparedto their European counterparts,” Sawadasaid.
CLOMA aims to bring together technologies from Japanese companies in order toaccelerate efforts to develop and promotea sophisticated structure that involves
consumers. It also aims to gain a say in an
ongoing international effort to design regulations, in which the European Union has
been ahead of Japan, and make the Japanese model a global standard. All CLOMA
member companies are aware that this isan urgent task.
“Now is the right time tolaunch” the efforts to develop
technologies and promote
their adoption “all at once,”
Sawada said. “I’m feeling alittle impatient, but I think weshould proceed in a bold manner.”
The ESG Talk series areinterviews with businessleaders who are active proponents of ESG investingand practices in Japan.

Times Gallery

Serbian Ambassador Aleksandra Kovac met with Yazaki Co. President
Shinji Yazaki and discussed further economic cooperation in Serbia— where Yazaki has already made investments — focusing especially on
the context of global challenges, on Oct. 5. EMBASSY OF SERBIA

Cuban Ambassador Miguel A. Ramirez (center) and the LDP secretarygeneral for the House of Councilors, Hiroshige Seko (second from right),agreed Oct. 7 to advance bilateral ties. With them are (from left) Councilors Iwao Horii, Akiko Honda and Yasutada Ohno. EMBASSY OF CUBAAt the “JapanThrough Diplomats’Eyes” photo exhibition in Tokyo,
Ambassador ofIreland Paul Kavanagh and the event’s
honorary president,
Princess Takamado,
view his entry “Carpin Matsue” on Oct. 6.

French Ambassador
Philippe Setton
meets with Takeharu
Yamanaka, the newmayor of Yokohama.
They discussed theFrench Film Festivalto be held in Yokohama in November.

EMBASSY OF IRELANDEMBASSY OF FRANCEParaguayan Ambassador Raul Florentin Antola awarded Crown Prince
Akishino and Princess Mako the National Order of Merit “Extraordinary Grand Cross” for their contributions to Japanese-Paraguayan
relations on Oct. 5, their respective 15th and fifth anniversaries ofvisiting Paraguay. EMBASSY OF PARAGUAY

Belgian Ambassador Roxane de Bilderling gives the decoration ofKnight in the Order of Leopold, conferred by the king, to Miako Sudo,
former director of the Tokyo office of Visit Flanders, in recognition ofher efforts in promoting Belgian tourism for more than 30 years.

Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria awards sumo women’s league champion
Airi Hisano (second from right) the same recognition as male champions
for the first time on Oct. 3. EMBASSY OF MEXICO

Counselor Rasheed Arekat from the Jordanian Embassy (first row, fifthfrom right) at the third Religion and Politics Forum, which won a 2021 King
Abdullah II World Interfaith Harmony Week Prize. EMBASSY OF JORDAN

PAGE: 7EMBASSY OF BELGIUM