JAPAN - It comes as no surprise that Japan, as the most developed nation in Asia, is also the only country in the region with environmental packaging regulations which parallel the European Packaging Directive, the Packaging Recycling Law, or to give it its full cumbersome name: The Law for the Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packing Recycling.

Traditionally Japanese packaging has been regarded as the ultimate in wasteful elegance; Zen to the extreme and often ridiculously over-packaged: The purchase of a dozen finger-sponge cakes bought in a local bakery is handed to you in:-

1. The store’s elegant little paper carrier bag,
2. Inside will be a gift-wrapped box. Peal away the gift-wrap;
3. The box itself is revealed as a masterpiece of origami-inspired folding carton technology which opens to reveal;
4. Each dainty little finger-sponge individually sealed inside its own printed plastic opaque pouch, tearing it open reveals, not the sponge, but;
5. A clear little pp tray in which the solitary sponge sits;
6. On top its own cushion of silica gel.

Numbered for clarity, in cast the point is missed: that’s six layers of packaging before you get to the product, a wonderful, elegant, tactile experience – but totally over the top, as packaging experiences go, yet somehow managing to stay within the Packaging Recycling Law. 

Japan’s Packaging Recycling Law, came onto the statute on 1 April 1997, and was implemented in phases according to a timetable, which included mandatory home sorting and kerb-side collections. The final phase took effect in October 2004.

Superficially, the Law promotes recycling, affecting the whole gamut of packaging: steel and aluminum cans, paper beverage cartons, glass bottles (colorless, brown and green all have their own separate clauses), and polyethylene telephthalate (PET) bottles, trays used in supermarkets and plastic bags, as well as stretchable film.

The intent of the law is to encourage businesses to use packaging and containers which are reusable or, if not possible, materials which are "ready to recycle." If packaging materials are not readily recyclable, manufacturers are then obliged to pay the associated collecting, sorting, transportation, and recycling costs.

All businesses manufacturing or using paper and plastic packaging (including supermarkets and retail stores) will be responsible for recycling costs.

Businesses must track the amount of recyclable materials they use for one year and retain records for five years. Based on their recorded usage, businesses must calculate the amount of their recyclables and will be charged accordingly for the cost of recycling.

Containers and packaging materials are divided into eight categories: glass bottles, PET bottles, plastic containers and packaging, paper containers and packaging, steel cans, aluminum cans, paper cartons for beverages, and cardboard boxes.

For imported products, importers will be obliged to pay recycling costs in most cases. If the imported products bear private labels, the corporation using the private labeling will be responsible for recycling costs, and Japanese importers will take associated recycling charges into account when choosing goods to import.

With the total 2004 shipment value of packaging materials and containers up by more than 5.2% to ¥5,602 billion (yen), and the total volume 20,860,000 tons, an increase of 0.6% as compared with 2003, Japan’s Packaging Law has done little to reduce the volume of packaging produced, or impacted on the production value.

Innovative Response

However, what is unique to the Japanese packaging industry is its response to the legislation. Sitting here in Asia, one might be forgiven in thinking that the European packaging industry’s response to the Waste Directive (et al) has been to grudgingly get on with it, and allow an entirely new industry to emerge, waste collection and disposal, largely funded by fees imposed on the industry and the packaging chain.

In Japan, the response has been, to approach the issue as a philosophical problem; to question the purpose, role and function of the package in the perspective of the needs of the community and, according to the Japan Packaging Institute “review the social significance of packaging, and develop and improve packaging to be in harmony with society in the new trends of environmental conservation, aging population combined with the diminishing number of children.” By 2020 more that 1/3rd of the population will be over 65.

A simple example of this is seen in the glass bottle, under The Law these have to be separated by the consumer for kerbside collection according to colour: Clear, green or brown. But with failing eyesight Japan’s aging and increasingly infirm population experienced problems differentiating. Solution? The bottle colour has been embossed in on the base in brail. PET and other plastic containers will be due for similar treatment.

However it is the plastics sector, which appears to have risen to the challenge, particularly in the research and development of cellulose and biodegradable plastics, which first began to emerge in 1996-97.

Some of Japan’s major industrial combines such as  Futamura Kagaku Kogyo and Rengo, Torray etc investing heavily in bio-degradables to steal the march on The Law. At least one project is researching transparent and flexible edible/biodegradable films with good tensile strength 9TS, elongation at break (EAB), water vapour permeability (WVP), light transmission, transparency, film solubility, protein solubility and enzyme hydrolysis – edible plastics will be coming to stores soon!

Under the (excruciatingly verbose)  "Voluntary Standards for Plastic Containers of Synthetic Resins Including Polyolefin for Food Wrapping" set out by the Hygiene Conference on Polyolefin and Others in June 2004, plastic materials derived from plants, such as the corn derivative, Polylactic acid (PLA), can now be used for direct food wrapping..

As a result, salad, fish, bread, farm products, and other foods can be sold in transparent containers of a 100% natural material. Since PLA is not derived from petroleum, the total dependence of plastics on fossil fuel resources can be reduced. Containers made from such a natural material can be biodegraded at industrial compost facilities, and landfills. However, since biodegradable films are prone to flap, causing uneven or poor cohesion during fuse sealing, presealing is required to reinforce sealing performance and ensure neat bag appearance

The number of companies adopting biodegradable films, regardless of cost, has been remarkable, as a result the public image of packaging has changed as manufacturers invest to improve their social image, expressing their consideration for the environment, even though in financial terms may cost them dearly. This investment is happening across a variety of sectors including food, cosmetics, and the precision machinery and equipment industries.

Changing Demographics

The population of Japan’s of elderly people over 65 years old is predicted to exceed one-third the total population in the middle of the 21st century, and the overall population will start to decrease before 2010 as the birthrate falls. In addition 70 percent of women over 15 years old are now in the workforce, that’s 50 percent of Japan’s ‘homemakers’, according to a survey by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs,.

As a result, the changes in food consumption and living habits are being seen now – the number of people eating-out and buying cooked food products continues to increase.

Consumer concerns about the safety of foodstuffs as a result of BSE, and bird flu, and last year’s the false claims on commodities by Japanese food manufacturers, has led more than 70 percent of Japanese shoppers to pay more attention to safety when purchasing food: Consumers now want to know the origin, components, calorific content, and product expiration data, and they want to get information on who is its supplier – without this information, the consumer simply will not buy the product. 

The role of the package to disclose and deliver information on the contents or storage conditions has been the subject of considerable R&D: as a result two solutions are being implemented: Intelligent packaging loaded with various indicators and Smart packaging allowing information to be added during distribution. 


One example is labels which use irreversible ink in order to disclose the history of the storage temperature of products delivered by refrigerated truck. If the storage temperature exceeds 25℃ the ink discolors irreversibly, showing that distribution did not meet the required refrigerated transportation conditions.

RFID tags are being experimented with by the Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JAC) to develop agricultural traceability systems, in which RF tags are included when packaging fruit and vegetables for distribution to control and record the history of their cultivation and distribution, across the entire supply chain management and with Japan’s high-tech response to packaging, RFID technology the industry is looking to it to act as a “master card in society”.

Porn in Plastic

Finally, an indication of the role of pornography in Japanese society is hinted at in the Japan Packaging Institute’s annual review of 2004, in which porn is included as one of the Top 10 hottest packaging opportunities: Osaka Prefectural Government decided to follow Tokyo Metropolitan Government and implement a policy to oblige bookstores and convenience stores to film-wrap or tie up pornography, in order to prevent children from browsing through such publications. Other prefectural governments are likely to follow. The Osaka Prefectural Government plans to revise its Youth Health Promotion Ordinance accordingly in fiscal 2005. If this regulation is violated, a fine not exceeding 300,000 yen will be imposed.