JAPAN NEWS
Plastic waste covers the coast in Tsushima, Nagasaki prefecture. According to city estimates, 30,000 to 40,000 cubic meters of drifting trash reaches Tsushima annually.
TOKYO >> Marine waste that has drifted from other Asian countries is causing problems in prefectures along the Sea of Japan. Intergovernmental negotiations held in Switzerland in August sought to establish the world’s first treaty on tackling pollution, but participants ultimately failed to reach an agreement, prompting concerns over delays in addressing plastic pollution.
At the same time, Japan itself is one of the world’s largest generators of plastic waste and is being urged to take steps to keep oceans clean.
Plastic containers and bottles have covered the western coastline of Tsushima in Nagasaki prefecture, about 31 miles from Busan, South Korea. “No matter how many times we collect them, they keep washing ashore whenever there’s heavy rain or a typhoon,” said tour guide Shoko Sakata, 45.
According to city estimates, 30,000 to 40,000 cubic meters of drifting garbage reaches Tsushima annually. Over half are plastic products, with 54% of the plastic bottles collected last year coming from China and Taiwan, and 38% from South Korea.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, about 20 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the global environment each year. About 90% of that comes from developing countries and is attributed mainly to improper waste control.
Japan is planning to assist to other countries in establishing waste sorting and collection systems, and has set a target of training 10,000 personnel in waste control. However, reducing drifting waste ultimately depends on the efforts of the countries that generate it.
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“International rules are needed to restore clean beaches,” said Michinao Suenaga, 54, a board member of the Tsushima Coast and Aquatic Preservation Program Association, which engages in beach cleanup.
Still, an Environment Ministry survey in 2023 found that most of the plastic bottles that washed ashore along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea originated in Japan.
“Some of the plastic waste flowing into the Pacific Ocean eventually reaches countries like the United States,” said Ehime University professor Hirofumi Hinata, who specializes in coastal physical oceanography.
Japan ranks second in the world, after the United States, in generating plastic packaging waste — about 70.5 pounds per capita per year as of 2015.
Public and private sectors are working to reduce plastic waste.
Kirin Holdings Co. promotes label-free bottles and has vowed to “contribute to the realization of a circular economy” and the “reduction of environmental impact.”
The Plastic Resource Circulation Law, which went into effect in 2022, requires convenience stores, hotels, restaurants and other businesses to formulate plans to reduce the volume of plastic products they provide. However, penalties apply only to large businesses, which results in limited efforts by smaller companies.
A Tokyo restaurant owner said of its plastic straws, “Plastic is cheaper, and customers strongly prefer it, so we can’t switch to paper.”
Plastic exposed to ultraviolet rays and wind breaks down into microplastics less than one-fifth of an inch. Eating fish that ingested microplastics is feared to pose health risks to humans.
“We will keep encouraging countries to participate in discussions toward the establishment of a treaty, while promoting effective initiatives both domestically and internationally,” said a senior official of the Environment Ministry.
AloJapan.com