Joint campaign in Shibuya promoting horizontal bottle to bottle recycling

Shibuya City and the Japan Soft Drinks Association (JSDA) have been promoting joint public awareness initiative since September 2026 to encourage the proper use of recycling boxes placed alongside beverage vending machines. The project was launched to address escalating littering and waste contamination in central Tokyo, now combining multilingual messaging and targeted media across key pedestrian hubs to maintain urban cleanliness.

In recent years, the resurgence of domestic visitors and foreign tourists in Shibuya Ward has heightened pressure on public waste management. While Japan boasts an extensive network of beverage vending machines, the dedicated boxes adjacent to them are designed strictly for empty drink containers, including PET bottles, aluminium cans and glass bottles. However, passers-by frequently deposit general rubbish, cigarette butts and hazardous items such as mobile batteries into these containers. This compromises material recycling quality and complicates collection processes.

To counter improper disposal, the joint campaign uses targeted physical and digital touchpoints across high-traffic locations. A total of 40 awareness posters have been installed across six municipal designated public smoking areas in Shibuya. The posters inform users that recycling boxes are reserved strictly for beverage containers, highlight the operational risks associated with foreign contaminants, and explain the principles of bottle-to-bottle horizontal recycling, a process where used PET bottles are reprocessed directly into new food-grade beverage containers.

Recognising the high volume of international travellers around Shibuya Station, the campaign also incorporates multi-language communication. A 15-second educational video titled “Do You Know What This Is?” began broadcasting on indoor and outdoor digital signage at the MIYASHITA PARK commercial complex in Japanese and English. In addition, the physical posters deployed in public smoking areas provide detailed information in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean.