Tag - recycling

 
 

RECYCLING

Phytochemical Products CEO Makiko Kato (second from right) and Chief Technology Officer and professor Naomi Kitakawa (right) at the startup's laboratory in Sendai
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 18, 2024
Tohoku University startup opens path to waste oil recycling
Its proprietary technology allows it to extract useful compounds from waste oil to produce biofuel and other products.
Made by Karimoku, Keiji Ashikawa’s design of the JAL Boeing 777 cabin window stool uses an outer window pane from the plane as a transparent seat set on a base comprising recycled oak off-cuts.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 16, 2024
Recycling old JAL planes and bullet trains into design treasures
This month, On: Design looks at recycled products designed to rev the engines of plane and train enthusiasts.
A worker checks the carbon fiber at the composite production line at the Swancor factory in Nantou, Taiwan, in February.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Mar 9, 2024
Recycling wind turbine blades can solve the industry’s biggest problem
Swancor is one of several firms globally trying to develop products that mimic the physical properties of current blade material but can be recycled.
Kotaro Seki, CEO of Ellange, in front of the truck that he uses to collect nets from fisheries
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2024
Trash into treasure: Can fishing net waste be the future of fashion?
A pair of Japanese startups are looking to solve a problem for the nation's fisheries: What to do with old fishing nets.
Paper pulp processed from used disposable diapers
JAPAN / Society
Jan 2, 2024
Graying Japan pushes to recycle disposable diapers to curb waste
The amount of diaper waste grew to 2.2 million tons in fiscal 2020. While efforts are being made to recycle them, high costs remain a hurdle.
Workers push damaged solar panels into a machine to be recycled at the We Recycle Solar plant in Yuma, Arizona.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 25, 2023
'Urban mining' offers green solution to old solar panels
Silver, copper, aluminum, glass and silicone are all commodities that can be harvested from old panels and have value on the open market.
Customers browse through items sold as part of the Uniqlo Pre-owned Clothes Project at the brand's Harajuku store in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023
Japan revisits used garments as inflation adds to fashion appeal
Awareness of the sector's huge environmental impact has yet to spark much interest in secondhand options in the world third-biggest clothes market.
Workers collect recyclable garbage including plastic bottles on World Environment Day in Tokyo in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2023
New solutions tackle Japan’s waste problem at its core
Issues like the plastics and climate crises seem insurmountable — until we apply "systemic design," as several Japanese initiatives are showing.
Staff at the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2023 collect used paper cups after the event on Oct. 15.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 9, 2023
Japanese paper-makers pioneer domestic recycling of paper cups
Until now paper cups have typically been discarded as flammable waste, but are made from high quality pulp that can be reused.
Pedestrians and shoppers walk past a branch of fashion retailer H&M in central Stockholm on July 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 9, 2023
Sustainable cloth-maker Renewcell struggling amid slow adoption
Stock in Renewcell lost over 80% of its value in the last month and the firm has reported an operating loss of $17 million in nine months.
The Materials Provided by Mizuno Baseball Bat Tableware set is made from a recycled, discarded baseball bat and includes two large tumblers, a vase, a small cup, four cutlery rests and a sake cup.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Sep 30, 2023
Game-changing designs from sporting goods brands
On: Design looks at two major Japanese sporting goods companies that have launched unique SDG-inspired projects.
Identifying a sustainable product can involve evaluating claims about emissions, plastic use, water waste and packaging recyclability.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 19, 2023
Regulators are trying to stop greenwashing before it gets worse
The range of agencies tackling dubious sustainability claims is indicative of its ambiguity and breadth.
A municipality worker collects garbage, most of which is plastic and domestic waste, along the shore of Jakarta.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 4, 2023
Trash to treasure: Indonesian firm turns plastic into bricks
The company mixes volcanic ash, mountain stones, plastic waste and cement to make its bricks, which do not contain sand like regular ones.
A clothing packaging warehouse near Barcelona last month
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 1, 2023
Fast fashion firms prepare for EU crackdown on waste mountain
Fast fashion, or making and selling cheap clothes with a short lifespan, is "highly unsustainable," the European Commission said in July.
The Environment Ministry plans to launch a survey in fiscal 2024 on how manufacturers recycle plastics and metals contained in industrial waste.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2023
Japan to conduct survey on closed-loop recycling
Closed-loop recycling is spreading in recent years on the back of improvements in technology to remove impurities from recyclable waste.
Children hold baseball bats made with aluminum from scrapped bullet trains on Thursday in Tokyo.
BASEBALL
Aug 17, 2023
Bats made from scrapped bullet train metal to go on sale in October
The bats are scheduled to go on sale on Railway Day and come in three designs.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 3, 2023
Norway's quest for 'black gold' from used car batteries
An essential part of many clean energy technologies, 'critical minerals' may energize the transition to a decarbonized economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2023
A second life for EV batteries? Depends how long the first is.
Demand for used batteries for storage is likely to soar as intermittent renewable energy takes on a bigger role.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 26, 2023
The world is losing the 'war on plastic.' What can be done to curb waste?
The U.N. this month took a major step toward what could become the world’s first treaty to curb plastic pollution. But a recent report highlights the immense challenge that lies ahead.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2023
Abandoned houses providing a new source of valuable timber in Japan
In some areas, forlorn grand old houses remain as vestiges of the prosperous shipping and mining industries along the Sea of Japan route built during the Edo Period and Meiji Era.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores