Tag - plastic

 
 

PLASTIC

Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2019
Stores in Japan Environment Ministry building to stop handing out plastic bags
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday that his ministry has stopped distributing plastic bags at all shops inside its government building, taking what he touted as a trailblazing step toward reducing plastic waste.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2019
Banning (some) free plastic bags
Japan's effort to reduce plastic waste by forcing retailers to charge for shopping bags has too many exemptions.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 29, 2019
Vancouver becomes first Canadian city to ban plastic straws and bags
Vancouver voted late on Wednesday to ban the use of plastic straws and bags from April next year, making it the first major Canadian city to enact such a wide-reaching ban, according to the city.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Nov 22, 2019
Massive increase in concentration of microplastics seen on beach facing Japan's Ise Bay
Some 60,000 particles of microplastics per square meter — meaning one particle per 16 square millimeters — are estimated to exist at Nasanohama beach on Toshi Island in Toba, Mie Prefecture, a study by Yokkaichi University professor Satoshi Chiba has revealed.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 12, 2019
Why the plastic crisis matters
Humankind must find ways to get by without laying waste to the planet.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2019
In a first for Japan, dish liquid's bottles to use recycled marine plastic
Procter & Gamble Japan K.K. will release a dishwashing liquid in a bottle made from marine plastic waste collected from the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2019
Malaysia working to clear hundreds of plastic waste shipments at ports, officials say
Malaysia is negotiating with countries sending their plastic waste to the Southeast Asian nation to take back the trash and is waiving storage fees to clear hundreds of containers of scrap stranded at ports across the country for months, officials say.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 16, 2019
Plastic reuse the most efficient way to solve marine waste issue, experts say
Although marine plastic has become a prominent environmental issue in recent years, plastic is too valuable a resource to ever truly go away, so effectively managing such waste and placing it in a circular economy system would be the most efficient way to solve the issue, experts at a Tokyo seminar said...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Oct 11, 2019
Gifu women turn plastic waste found on beaches into accessories
Four women in Tajimi, Gifu Prefecture, are creating accessories made from plastic fragments collected at beaches in Aichi Prefecture, selling them amid growing global concerns over the microplastic waste in the ocean.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 10, 2019
New app MyMizu aims to reduce plastic waste in Japan, one drink at a time
In a country drowning itself in plastic, the creators of a new app called MyMizu are attempting to change seemingly entrenched views and cultural norms regarding sustainability.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 2, 2019
Japan, U.S. and EU to jointly measure plastic waste inflows into the oceans
Japan plans to lead a new initiative to gauge the amount of marine plastic waste released from individual countries in cooperation with the United States and the European Union, according to informed sources.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 17, 2019
Uniqlo to sell clothes made from recycled plastic bottles
Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the Uniqlo casual apparel chain, says it will produce clothes made from used plastic bottles in cooperation with Toray Industries Inc.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 13, 2019
New Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi vows Japan will take lead role on plastic waste
Koizumi said he wants to make Japan a leader in environmental issues and speak with Fukushima's fishermen about what to do with Tepco's radiation-tainted water.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 26, 2019
Inventor Boyan Slat's mission: Shrink Great Pacific Garbage patch 90% by 2040
Boyan Slat, 25, is an ambitious social entrepreneur. His goal: Reduce 90 percent of an estimated 80 million kg of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean, covering an area more than three times the size of France, by 2040. And do it with a technology he likens to raking leaves.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2019
Japan's Environment Ministry plans to boost ocean cleanup budget in bid to tackle plastic waste
The Environment Ministry plans to substantially increase its budget for reducing plastic waste in the ocean in fiscal 2020, in line with an action plan adopted by relevant Cabinet ministers in May, informed sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 15, 2019
Microplastic found even in remote Arctic ice
Tiny pieces of plastic have been found in ice cores drilled in the Arctic by a U.S.-led team of scientists, underscoring the threat the growing form of pollution now poses to marine life in even the remotest waters on the planet.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 6, 2019
Get off the bandwagon of banning plastic bags
When used just once plastic bags can cause problems, but many people repurpose them.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2019
A call for healthy, blue oceans in Asia and the Pacific
Without action, the world's oceans will contain nearly 250 million tons of plastic by 2025.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition