In an effort to be more environment-friendly, Keio Electric Railway Co. began placing new benches made of recycled railway passes and plastic waste material at its stations Wednesday. It takes about 1,000 of the passes -- cut into particles and mixed with old plastic trays and other materials -- to make one of the 1.6-meter-long benches, and they account for about 20 percent of the core materials. According to company officials, the benches cost 80,000 yen each, which is 30 percent lower than its other benches, and are just as strong. They can also be reused even if broken, they said. The benches were developed by the railway and Chuo Kagaku Co., a manufacturer of plastic food containers based in Konosu, Saitama Prefecture. The carrier plans to install 200 recycled benches at stations on the Keio and Inokashira lines by the end of March.
