Kirk here with some thoughts on how plastic is recycled in Kumamoto (or, more precisely, “in Japan” and Kumamoto by extension).
First, here’s a quote that I think is interesting:
“According to official numbers, in 2018 Japan recycled an impressive 84 percent of the plastic collected. (The US, in comparison, recycles about 9 percent.) Japan reaches this percentage through diversified recycling mechanisms. More than half of the collected plastic goes through thermal recycling, which means that the plastic waste is burned in incinerators to generate energy. Approximately 28 percent of the plastic is either reprocessed into new products or chemically recycled — broken down into its primary components and recombined to create new products. Some sources indicate that part of these volumes end up being exported overseas. The residual 14 percent is not recycled at all and ends up being dumped or burned without energy recovery.” https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/japans-high-recycling-rate-plastic/
I hadn’t imagined that burning plastic might be considered recycling if energy is harvested in the process.
I found the article I quoted from above in a round-about sort of way. I had been listening to a podcast about low levels of plastic recycling in the US and the world in general and that prompted me to want to learn more about how the plastic I go to the trouble to sort each week is being used. I found the following article in Japanese that mentioned the “thermal recycling” problem and that led me to search for “thermal recycling” and Japan in English:
世界でプラスチックのリサイクル率が低い5つの理由＆日本の現状 https://lessplasticlife.com/plastics/trash-recycle/why-are-plastic-recycling-rates-so-low/
The article basically says that Japan’s recycling statistics are deceptive. Still, I’m in favor of recycling what can be recycled, even if so-called chemical recycling levels are lower than I had imagined. My take away is that we shouldn’t be overly optimistic about plastic recycling and that, instead, we should try to avoid unnecessary packaging if at all possible. Maybe I need to have a little talk with someone at my nearest supermarket about their packaging practices. I’m sure that if I explain to them that recycling doesn’t make everything OK they’ll see the light and make major changes in their practices. ;)
P.S. I searched and confirmed that “thermal recycling” is part of the prefecture’s approach to plastic recycling but I couldn’t find any statistics about the percentage, even in the wonky pdfs that ordinary citizens don’t bother to read. I guess it’s not an aspect of the program that the government really wants to publicize.
