Kyoto Prefecture city to ban single-use plastic shopping bags
A city assembly in western Japan enacted an ordinance Tuesday that bans local retailers from offering single-use plastic shopping bags to customers, whether they are free or priced, the first such measure in the country. The ordinance in Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture, is set to take ...
Plastics had been falling out of favor. Then came the coronavirus
It took one week after the first U.S. case of COVID-19 with no overseas connection for Starbucks Corp. to temporarily ban customers from bringing in reusable coffee mugs. Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, was disappointed. Public health comes first, ...
Minimum ¥1 fee for plastic bags to kick in weeks before Tokyo Olympics
Beginning in July, retailers across Japan will be required to charge for plastic shopping bags, at a time when marine plastic waste is becoming a serious problem worldwide. The move is aimed at increasing public awareness of the need to reduce plastic waste. The government ...
In bid to mend Pacific ties, Australia legislates greater recycling use
Australia will require government departments to use more recycled products, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as Canberra looks to repair ties with Pacific island nations despite a refusal to step up efforts on global warming. Morrison last year angered Pacific Island leaders when ...
Some 77 percent of respondents support the government's plans to charge customers for plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, convenience stores and other retailers from July, a Jiji Press poll has shown. According to the survey on waste conducted between Jan. 10 and Jan. 13, 49.7 ...
Tokyo tests reward points linked to U.N. sustainable development goals
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is experimenting with offering reward points to citizens who engage in activities that are in line with U.N. sustainable development goals. The initiative, slated to run through fiscal 2020, is part of efforts to motivate people to contribute to society as ...
Dispatches from the front line of Japan's retail sector
Since October, business media have focused on two topics at the near-exclusion of numerous others: the economic repercussions of the consumption tax hike and how that increase has influenced, or accelerated, a shift from cash to electronic payments. This blanket coverage is probably one reason ...
The sense of urgency to create a more sustainable human existence must be shared across the world, including Japan, which failed to send any policymakers to Davos this year.
Adidas to launch new fabrics from recycled ocean plastic and polyester
Adidas will launch new fabrics made from recycled polyester and marine plastic waste and expand the product lines that use them after the success of shoes made with the Parley for the Oceans initiative, the sportswear firm said Tuesday. Adidas first teamed up with Parley ...
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday that it will launch a trial next week at convenience stores at three government ministries and an agency to test ways to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags. The test will be conducted for three ...
Rome's Fiumicino airport tests eco-friendly plastic-graphene tarmac
Rome's Fiumicino airport is testing a pioneering tarmac developed by an Italian company, made of a material that has twice the lifespan of traditional asphalt and is better for the environment as it uses a waste plastic. The graphene-enhanced tarmac has been laid on one ...
China's top economic planner said it would cut the production and use of plastic over the next five years, helping reduce one of the world's biggest sources of plastic pollution. By the end of this year, nondegradable plastic bags will be banned in places such ...
