Kobe city and Nestlé collaborate to reduce plastic waste for ethical consumption

The city of Kobe, capital of Hyogo prefecture, and Nestlé Japan Ltd. will start a new scheme to promote ethical consumption in Japan. Earlier this month, Kobe and Nestlé collected plastic packaging waste at stores within the city to accelerate recycling of these items in Kobe. Consumers who returned Nestlé’s ‘NESCAFÉ Eco & System’ empty containers to collection boxes installed at two retailers in Kobe earned points on ‘Iikoto-guruguru’ app.

Iikoto-guruguru is an app launched by Kobe city which was designed to encourage citizens to tackle eco-action. Iikoto-guruguru literally means ‘circulating good act,’ and citizens can earn points by the following eco-actions: purchasing eco-friendly products; reporting domestic electricity and gas usage; choosing drop-off lockers to receive parcels; and using reusable mugs at coffee shops.

Kobe and Nestlé are now promoting ethical consumption within the city by rewarding Iikoto-guruguru points for purchasing NESCAFÉ Eco & System products and KitKat mini chocolate bars that use paper for packaging. Consumers who purchase these products simply need to take a photo of the merchandise and receipt, and then register the information on the app to gain points.

Nestlé group announced in 2018 that the company will commit to switching all its packaging to recyclable or reusable material by 2025 to reduce plastic production and waste. Therefore KitKat Japan, operated by Nestlé Japan, has already started changing part of their products packaging from plastic to paper since 2019. This conversion is estimated to reduce approximately 380 tons of plastic each year. The company aims to change every KitKat packaging to recyclable or reusable material by 2022, in order to reduce generating plastic waste.

Reducing plastic is indispensable in order to create a sustainable society

Plastic waste lead to air and land pollution; because plastic cannot be biodegraded, much of plastic waste that are not recycled end up in landfills, and those that are incinerated will cause air pollution with toxic gas. Tons of plastic that are dumped into the sea damages wildlife and potentially humans, who regularly eat seafood containing microplastic. Therefore, many companies across the world are leading the movement to reduce plastic usage. Japanese businesses are no exception.

For example, the Ajinomoto group—a Japanese enterprise engaged in manufacturing frozen food, beverages and edible oil—has also been working on reducing plastic. In 2017, it reduced 11 tons of annual plastic production by changing part of its packaging to paper. It also cut 25 tons of plastic production per year by making the plastic packaging smaller. The company aims to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030.

Another example is Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., famous for Muji (Mujirushi Ryohin), a Japanese retail company that offers a wide variety of household goods. Muji stores encourage customers to bring reusable bags as it no longer offers plastic bags at their stores. Also, plastic straws and cutlery are no longer available at Muji Café in Ginza, Tokyo.

These efforts made by businesses have impact on the environment and can encourage ethical consumption. And the idea to attract consumers to choose sustainable consumption through design. Paper packaging used for KitKat chocolate bars that are eligible for earning eco-action points in Kobe can be used as an origami to fold a paper crane. Origami instruction is printed on the back, adding a fun element to eco-friendly consumption. Kobe and Nestlé’s above-mentioned promotion started on March 4 and will end on December 31, but hopefully the sustainable practice will continue even after the promotion ends.