3 ms·
After studying Japanese language and culture for the last 15 years, and spending about 6 months there in total, I would say they have a massive over-packaging p
by johnea 5mo ago
After studying Japanese language and culture for the last 15 years, and spending about 6 months there in total, I would say they have a massive over-packaging problem in general.
I've never seen a place throw away more plastics than in Japan.
If the current oil situation forces a reworking of this system, I'd say all in all, that's an upside.
- gryson 5mo agoJapan is nowhere near the worst for plastic waste per capita, and it has very high recycling rates. Rely more on statistics and less on personal observation.
- armada651 5mo agoSince very few types of plastic are actually recyclable most of it ends up being burned despite being separately collected, so I don't think you can simply discount the recycled plastic from the plastic waste being produced.
- gryson 5mo agoJapan burns about half of its collected plastic via thermal recycling (recovering the energy) and recycles about a third into new products. The key point is that Japan recycles 85% of its plastic waste, which is excellent compared with a country like the US that recycles about 10%. And, the per capita plastic use in the US is far more than in Japan. This whole point pops up on the internet so frequently because tourists go to Japan and see lots of individually packaged items in supermarkets and convenience stores. Yes, there is room for improvement there, but overall the situation is not as bad as many countries and probably doesn't deserve the attention it gets.
- trillic 5mo agoBurning trash is recycling now?
- gryson 5mo agoYes, if the resulting energy is captured: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy
- bell-cot 5mo agoEfficient burning is far better than shipping it off to a dump in some poor country, while claiming that it'll somehow be recycled there.
- no-name-here 5mo agoEven better to provide a source for each statistic. Japan has about half the plastic waste rate, yes [1]. However, the top recycling search result claims Japan only has a 19% recycling rate compared to the US’s 24% [2], but you might have been referring to a specific recycling type? [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-per-capita [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_rates_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_rates_by_country
- gryson 5mo agoYou're greatly misunderstanding that second link: that's the breakdown of what happens to collected municipal waste within each country (notice they all add up to 100% for each country). That says nothing about total amounts of plastic waste collected or recycled. See Table 1 here and its sources: https://circulareconomy.earth/publications/how-japan-is-using-the-circular-economy-to-recycle-plastics https://circulareconomy.earth/publications/how-japan-is-usin... Japan recycles about 24% of its used consumer plastics into new products, while the US recycles about 8%. That's NOT factoring in thermal recycling, which Japan is far better at than the US.
- curio_Pol_curio 5mo agoThermal recycling is a classic Japanese euphemism for burning plastics. Yes, for energy, but it's still misleading https://www.mitsui.com/solution/en/contents/solutions/circular/how-is-plastic-recycled https://www.mitsui.com/solution/en/contents/solutions/circul... >it produces CO2 and toxic substances when it is burned.
- dcrazy 5mo agoYes, the bin for general waste is even labeled “burnables,” and in my experience that is where non-rigid plastic films go. (Films are very difficult to sort automatically; we landfill them here in SF.)
- dangus 5mo agoJapan can package up all the snacks they want, they still use far less oil per capita than the USA. Japan: Approximately 28% of all passenger kilometers are traveled by rail United States: Rail travel accounts for only about 0.25% of passenger kilometers Remember: when you drive your 30mpg car to work, 20 miles down the freeway, alone in your vehicle by yourself, you are burning over a gallon of refined petroleum product every single day. You can make a loooooot of plastic bags with that much oil. Something like 95% of Americans get to work via automobile.
- hunter2_ 5mo agoIsn't it 2/3 of a gallon plus any cold start inefficiency? But either way your point stands.
- dangus 5mo ago20 miles to work = 40 mile round trip. The average American commute time is something like 20-25 minutes and if that involves highway travel, 20 miles isn’t a crazy assumption.
- LadyCailin 5mo agoThere’s something to be said for the amount of microplastics that end up in the environment. And also that the comparison isn’t only against the US, there are other countries that lead the way in plastic reduction.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- quickthrowman 5mo agoThat’s what I’d expect for a country that imports all of its oil and a country that produces more oil than it uses, especially considering the oil importing nation is an island 1/25th the size of the oil rich country, making dense rail transportation easier. I’d love if the US had better public transport and I could get rid of my car, it costs more per month than my housing (which is admittedly cheap)
- helterskelter 5mo agoNippon packaging So dressed like a lover Frigid winter day
- numpad0 5mo agoThe actual canned response to this is [1] and humidity. Daily levels of humidity in East/Southeast Asia is whole another level from US/EU(or vice versa). 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glico_Morinaga_case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glico_Morinaga_case