Top Japanese Firms Band Together to Clean Up Ocean Plastic Waste
- Cloma has set a goal to recycle all plastic products by 2050
- Chairman Michitaka Sawada talks about the group’s approach
Photographer: Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images
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A group of top companies in Japan -- where nearly every chocolate, banana or tea bag is individually wrapped -- is trying to find a way to reduce the amount of plastic the nation dumps in the sea.
Japan is the world’s second-biggest producer of plastic waste per capita and was one of the two Group of Seven nations that didn’t sign the 2018 charter to significantly reducing single-use plastic by 2040. But pressure from investors and the public to disclose packaging use, set reduction goals and switch to recyclables is prodding Japan Inc. to reform.