Food packaging & new Plastic Recycling Law in Japan

Following the start of a new law in Japan on April 1 that aims to increase the circularity of plastic throughout its lifecycle, we look at one of Japan’s big areas of plastic use – food packaging.

For many people, their image of Japanese food includes strict hygiene standards, freshness, and convenient access to ready-to-eat meals and bottled drinks. For others, copious amounts of packaging to ensure those high standards may be what comes to mind.

Food packaging and environmental issues

On the upside, packaging does help maintain the quality of food and sustain its longevity. But there’s a significant downside, too: plastic production emits a large amount of carbon dioxide. For instance, the carbon footprint of just five plastic bags is 1 kg of CO2.

Data shows that the packaging industry accounts for 42% of global plastic waste. Since CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases that are raising global temperatures, plastic packaging plays a considerable role in causing climate change. That is why Japan is trying to reduce plastic production by increasing the circularity of it as a resource.

According to e-Stat, in Japan in 2018, 458,410 tons of PET bottles were reused (and even more were produced overall), 235,108 tons of paper packaging was reused (229,296 tons produced), and 558,990 tons of plastic packaging was reused (511,705 tons produced). The differences between packaging produced and used is due to recycling.

Some data show that the recycling rate of plastic packaging waste in Japan is 57%, and for paper packaging waste it’s 24.5%. For plastic recycling, that’s a good number in comparison to a rate of 40.9% for the EU in 2016.

However, recycling is not a solution. It requires energy, emits greenhouse gases, and crucially, much of the plastic can only be recycled once or twice.

Meanwhile, there’s still a large percentage of plastic packaging waste that wasn’t recycled. In 2020, Japan exported more than 818,764 tons of plastic waste, making it the top exporter of plastic waste in the world. Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2019, Japan’s plastic waste is now being sent to southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand (Statista, 2022).

The majority of that exported waste ends up in landfills. In many cases, those landfills are not well managed and may emit greenhouse gases and pollute the surrounding environments.

Plastic packaging vs paper packaging

So, paper packaging must be a better alternative than plastic packaging, right? Since most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas and petroleum, paper would be the more sustainable choice. Recently, Nestle Japan changed its packaging from plastic-based to paper-based. This move by a market-leading company has spurred many other companies to follow suit. But how significant of a change is it?

Well, in terms of recycling, paper packaging might not be the most environmentally friendly material. A study says that recycling paper requires four times more energy and water than recycling plastic. As for weight, for two packages of the same size, with one made of plastic and the other of paper, typically the paper one will be heavier. Therefore, paper packaging might not be as space-efficient as plastic, meaning that more vehicles might be needed for transportation.

It is clear that the best way to cope with packaging waste is to reduce the production of it in the first place through reuse. More widespread use of biodegradable packaging could also help.

The shift to package-free & biodegradable materials

In the EU, there is already a big movement to reduce food packaging and invent new and more environmentally friendly packaging. For example, at the beginning of this year, the French government banned the packaging of 30 types of fruit and vegetables at supermarkets and other retail shops. This will greatly reduce the amount of single-use plastic packaging. Consumers might find the change inconvenient, or feel it to be unhygienic in some cases, but such issues are likely to be resolved in time as shoppers adjust.

In the Netherlands, a company called PaperFoam has been developing innovative packaging products as eco-friendly packaging solutions. Their egg carton is one example. While conventional egg cartons are made of plastic, molded pulp, or sometimes styrofoam, this new carton is made from starch, cellulose fibers, and water. That means it can be composted at home after use. It would be great to see these cartons on Japanese supermarket shelves in the near future.

Japan’s New Plastic Resource Circulation Act

In April, the Ministry of the Environment implemented a new law, “The Plastic Resource Circulation Act.” The main principle of it is to use subsidies to encourage companies to reduce the production of single-use plastic and develop and adopt more circular product designs and systems. Examples include refill products that use less voluminous packaging and product-collection points run by the companies for recycling purposes.

The new law encourages municipalities and manufacturers to collect and recycle plastic products. Companies that conform to the principles receive 150,000 yen from the ministry. That acts as an incentive for them to transit toward a circular business model, and that shift leads consumers to adopt the new style of packaging.

The new act also adjusts legislation to make it easier for companies to implement recycling plans, and allows government ministers to issue orders to companies that generate large amounts of plastics.

Both consumers and food companies in Japan have traditionally placed a high priority on convenience and have therefore been reluctant to make changes that could reduce that convenience. While it might take a while for Japan to adopt the changes that the new law aims to spur, the public’s shift away from plastic bags following the mandatory surcharge on them that began in July 2020 suggests that it is just a matter of time before a new circular lifestyle for plastic becomes the new norm in Japan.