Tag - waste

 
 

WASTE

52.0% of people questioned in a survey said they want to use containers to take leftovers home if they are provided free of charge, and 28.8% showed willingness to use takeout containers whether they are free or not.
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2025
Survey finds 80% of people want to take leftover restaurant food home
14.5% of those surveyed answered that they have never left food in restaurants.
Solar panels, which typically last 20 to 30 years, will begin to reach the end of their service life in the next decade.
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2025
Disposal of used solar panels emerging as challenge in Japan
The annual amount of solar panels discarded as waste is seen peaking at some 500,000 tons in the early 2040s, putting a major strain on industrial waste treatment facilities.
Nuclear fuel debris recovered from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant No. 2 reactor
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2024
Uranium detected in extracted Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
The debris was extracted from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 2 reactor.
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 21, 2024
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
Flowing more than 4,300 kilometers from the Tibetan Plateau to Vietnam, the Mekong River is the lifeblood of the region. It also faces a spiraling problem with plastic.
Food loss happens at food-related businesses including-food makers, retailers and restaurants, as well as at households.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2024
Japan drafts more ambitious 60% goal for cutting business food loss by 2030
The government hopes to require food businesses to change practices such as rejecting foods and beverages that are close to their best-before date.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024
Ishiba makes first visit as PM to crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant
The trip was apparently intended to demonstrate his administration's focus on revitalizing the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
In scrap yards lacking proper environmental safeguards, towering piles of scrap are at risk of collapse.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Dec 10, 2024
Japan to tighten regulations for electronic devices scrap yards
Local communities have expressed concerns over frequent fires and noise pollution.
Starbucks Coffee Japan will replace paper straws with plant-based biomass plastic straws from next month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2024
Starbucks in Japan to ditch paper straws for plant-based biomass plastic in 2025
The coffee company says the new straws are fully biodegradable in seawater and soil, and will not soften like paper ones.
Residents of Suttsu in Hokkaido attend a briefing session Saturday explaining a recent survey by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan in relation to building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 1, 2024
Locals uneasy after Hokkaido nuclear waste survey results
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) briefed Suttsu residents on research regarding volcanoes and active tectonic faults near the town.
Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050, and microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce and even human breast milk.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Dec 1, 2024
Battle over curbing plastic output jeopardizes U.N. treaty hopes
The hoped-for treaty could be the most significant environmental protection deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Environmental activists demonstrate in front of the convention center in Busan, South Korea, where delegates from around the world are seeking to reach a binding treaty against plastic waste.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 29, 2024
Showdown looms on plastic treaty days before deadline
With just two days of talks left, countries seeking an ambitious treaty urged delegations that "have not moved a centimeter" to make compromises or "get out of the way."
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2024
Tepco eyes second test removal of Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
As in the previous test, the operator plans to use a fishing rod-shaped device to remove the debris.
Plastic waste that manicurist Naomi Arimoto collected from the sand at a beach, is pictured at her nail salon in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Oct. 21.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2024
Japanese manicurist takes on plastic pollution, one nail at a time
Naomi Arimoto carefully sifts beach sand for tiny bits of plastic that she can mold into decorative tips to put on the false nails at her salon.
An employee of Trex stands with bales of used plastic, which the company recycles into decking material.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
Can the world unite to end the plastic pollution crisis?
The rising toll of plastic in the environment is impossible to ignore.
Sacks of untreated and shredded plastic waste, left unattended, collect at an inoperative recycling site in Asan, South Korea, on Nov. 19.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Nov 25, 2024
South Korea's mountain of plastic waste shows limits of recycling
Seoul says that it recycles 73% of its plastic waste, but environmentalists say the real number is about 27%.
Akira Yamaguchi (right), president of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, hands the results of a survey, the first step to select a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, to Haruo Kataoka, mayor of Suttsu in Hokkaido, on Friday in the town.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2024
Nuclear waste body backs further Hokkaido disposal site surveys
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan has concluded it can move on to a preliminary survey that involves drilling work in Suttsu and Kamoenai.
Employees load a transportation box containing fuel debris into a container at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 7.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2024
Fukushima nuclear debris arrives at lab after secret journey
The announcement comes after operator Tepco said that a tricky trial debris removal operation using a specially developed extendible device had been completed.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako release young marbled flounder and red sea bream into the sea from the port of Beppu, Oita Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2024
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend annual marine convention
The emperor and empress later moved to the city of Beppu and released young marbled flounder and red sea bream into the sea from the port of Beppu.
Debris recovery equipment at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is seen during a public demonstration in May in Kobe.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2024
Nuclear debris from Fukushima reactor weighs 0.7 gram
The collected substance will be analyzed at four facilities for research toward full-scale extraction of nuclear fuel debris.
The Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2024
Tepco removes nuclear fuel debris from Fukushima disaster site
Radioactive debris was removed from the Unit 2 reactor at the plant and was placed inside a sealed container for transportation.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go