Vessels that Return to the Earth to Unwind the Future: The Challenge of Biodegradable Plastics, 1995

Vessels that Return to the Earth to Unwind the Future: The Challenge of Biodegradable Plastics, 1995
In 1995, Japan was facing the challenge of shifting to a recycling-oriented society amid a combination of recession and waste problems following the collapse of the bubble economy. In the same year, the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law was enacted, and a movement to rethink the throwaway culture began. Against this background, biodegradable plastics attracted attention. This material, which is ultimately reduced to water and carbon dioxide through the action of microorganisms, was expected to be used for short-term products such as plastic shopping bags and food containers. At the time, however, it was several times more expensive than conventional plastics, and its durability and moldability remained a problem. Therefore, public-private partnerships were formed to research and develop various materials, including starch-based materials, polylactic acid (PLA), polycaprolactone (PCL), and PHA, which is synthesized by microorganisms. PHA attracted attention for its degrad
ability in soil and seawater, and research continued with a view to its full-scale use in the future. International standards such as EN13432 in Europe and ASTM D6400 in the U.S. were established to clarify degradation standards under composting conditions. Japan followed suit, and demand was expected to reach 3 million tons per year. Although the slow decomposition of compost in the ocean remains an issue, the budding of compost as an environmental technology has taken shape in terms of both the development of materials and the establishment of a system.