The Era When Containers and Packaging Recycling Became the Norm in Society FY2002

The Era When Containers and Packaging Recycling Became the Norm in Society FY2002

In FY2002, the volume of containers and packaging collected by Japanese municipalities reached 858,000 tons, a significant increase of 33% over the previous year. This was against the backdrop of a 2.9-fold increase in the number of municipalities implementing sorted collection, to 2,482, in the five years since the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law came into effect. Although residents felt a strong sense of burden when the system was first introduced, by the early 2000s, sorting at home had become widely established as a routine behavior.

At that time, the Basic Act on Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society (2000), the Food Recycling Act (2001), and other systems related to resource recycling were being developed one after another, and the entire country was promoting a shift in value from waste to resources. The Containers and Packaging Recycling Law played a central role in this process, and the system in which the government, companies, and citizens all played their respective roles was about to enter the actual operation phase.

In particular, PET bottles showed a dramatic 12-fold increase, and as the main beverage containers rapidly shifted from cans and bottles to PET bottles, local governments' development of collection routes and the cooperation of local residents supported the processing. Glass bottles and plastic containers increased 2.5-fold and 4.3-fold, respectively, across the board for major containers, and the domestic resource recycling system was approaching maturity in terms of both quantity and quality.

The record set in FY 2002 was not just a simple increase in volume, but also marked a historical turning point in society's transition from a society that discards to one that recycles.