This is how plastic food containers are
recycled in Japan.
So in some of my previous videos, people
have commented that Japan uses way too
much plastic. Which could be a fair
statement. But in this video I wanted to
show you what happens to some of that
plastic and how it's recycled in Japan.
But before I start, like always, if you
want to see what I'm doing on the daily,
check out my Instagram account. If you
also want to support my channel, check
out my Tokyo in Japan merch and if you
have any questions about Japan or Japan
travels check out my Discord community.
That said, let me show you how recycling
works in Japan.
Today, i'm at the Ibaraki recycling
factory, one of Japan's largest plastic
food container producers: FPCO. This
Japanese factory recycles used plastic
food trays to make brand new ones. In
fact, they're the first company in the
world who started trade a trade
container production. Created in 1962 in
Hiroshima, the company has grown to about
960 hard-working staff with factories
all throughout the country. Also I'm
aware that this is a touchy topic among
many people and the world including
Japan could be doing more for the
environment, but we'll leave that debate
for a different video.
Oh, a huge truck has just arrived. All
throughout Japan, used plastic trays are
commonly collected at designated
supermarket recycle bins where they're
picked up by trucks and brought to
recycling factory unloading docks like
this one. Wow, they've got more trays than
Steph Curry! At this factory alone, about
five tons of plastic trays that are
unloaded every day, are recycled into
about 4.6 tons of reusable pellets to
make more trays.
Apparently, there are two main types of
plastic trays used: the clear ones
oriented polystyrene and, the softer ones
called polycyrene paper or what many
worldwide ordinarily know as styrofoam.
We'll start with this one.
Look at all this classic. This looks like
the place where they unpack everything
[Music]
Now the collected trays are ushered into
the conveyor belt for sorting. First
thing you may notice is that the trays
arrive rather clean, and I can vouch with
no stench. In Japan, before placing
plastic trays into the recycle bins,
they're washed and dried at home by each
individual, a very critical part of the
process since this type of recycling
business wouldn't be possible without
the cooperation from the community.
Interestingly, many Japanese kids from a
young age, learn how to clean and
separate plastics as part of their
everyday school lunch - helping to show
them the importance and their
responsibility for recycling.
Oh, here comes more! These large brown
bags are packed with styrofoam trays
already sorted at a different facility
since not all of the facilities have
machinery to recycle the trays into
pellets like this one, some simply
perform the sorting procedure and once
complete, are transferred to this
recycling factory. Wow, there's just so
much classic here. Let's go ask someone a
question.
Hi, can I ask you some questions?
So what you doing?
How long have you been working here?
Cool, what's your favorite part of the job?
Finally, is there anything you need to be careful of?
Oh, so what's the most difficult part of your job?
Thank you!
[Music]
Now, on to the sorting process. Basically,
the workers remove items that aren't
suitable for recycling, and then sort out
the suitable ones between clear white
and colored.
[Music]
Wow, look at them go! Interestingly, this
factory itself employs many different
types of workers. 86% of which are
individuals with a handicap. The factory
says that the sorting test requires a
focused concentration for long periods
of time, which many are great at making
them an important part of their
workforce. Let's go see if we can talk to
someone else. Excuse me what are you
doing?
Why is sorting important?
So what are the unrecyclable trays?
I see, and what do you think is more
challenging about this job?
Oh, what do you do when it starts hurting?
Cool, thanks!
Before we continue on, I want to tell you
about the awesome people at Bokksu, who
also sponsor this video. I know that many
of you already signed up, which is
awesome. But for those that don't know,
they provide a gourmet experience of
japanese snacks and tea pairing
delivered to your front door. They also
work with traditional Japanese factories,
some over 100 years old to provide you
with authentic Japanese flavors. First
time users will get a seasons of Japan
box and after that you'll get a theme
box like this one. This month's theme is
Midori Moments, celebrating the season's
greenery, with items like matcha snacks,
wasabi chips, and of course green tea. You
get this nice booklet that takes you
through each snack. I just love receiving
these boxes every month, and I know you
will too. My favorite this month is a
Sudachi Gummy, which you can try for
yourself. So get $15 off your own
authentic Japanese snack box
subscription from Bokksu by using my
code PAOLO15 and link in the
description. I should mention though
based on the most recent statistics from
2016, out of the top 20 plastic waste
producing countries, Japan ranks 15th in
the world for annual plastic waste
production per person at 38 kilograms 83
pounds compared to the US at a steady
number one producing 105 kilograms 231
pounds of plastic waste per person. For
the UK and second at 99 kilograms. That
said, Japan recycles about 20% of that
plastic waste for reuse.
Now that the trays are sorted, let's go
see what happens to the trays.
Next, the sorted white trays are
conveyored into this machine which first
aggressively blows off any foreign
particles and then shreds the trays into
smaller pieces.
Afterwards, it's washed with water
in this giant tank, and washed a second
time in the neighboring tank. But this
time with hot water and detergent,
followed up with a dual rinse and full
dry. And of course, the water used in the
washing process is purified and reused
in the factory.
Oh, this machine is shredding the colored
trays. They're processed in a designated
machine, completely separate from the
white trays.
So I don't know if you can hear me right
now, but I'm gonna go over there.
[Music]
Okay, the now clean tray pieces are once
again shredded into smaller pieces about
the size of a grape.
And here, one of the workers reintroduces
collected pieces of tray that got stuck
in the process to help even further
minimize waste.
Now, the tiny pieces of tray are heated
to 220 degrees celsius, about 428 degrees
fahrenheit, and melted at this machine to
form thin plastic rods. Unfortunately,
these rods are hidden inside of the
machinery, but I'll show you how it looks
in just a bit with clear plastic trays.
But here you go! Finally in pellet form.
[Music]
Oh, these are the black pellets made from
the colored plastic trays. They're
recycled into other products like
hangers and home appliances, but research
is underway so that they can also be
recycled into trays. Overall, recycling
about 1.9 billion plastic styrofoam
trays every year successfully reducing
CO2 emissions by 30%.
[Music]
Oh look, there's someone up there. Let's
see what they're doing.
These are the clear trays. Recyclable
clear trays are sorted and gathered in
this section. Apparently there are many
kinds of clear tray material so they
need to be sorted in a different
facility before they're sent here for
final recycling. At this point, the trays
are unpacked and conveyored up to this
machine to be shredded into tiny pieces.
And just like the white and colored
styrofoam trays, the pieces are heated
and then melted to produce these thin
plastic rods. What I wanted to show you
earlier, it kind of looks like a water
fountain frozen in time. The rods
ultimately getting cut into tiny
recyclable pellets. In total, the company
recycles about 250 million clear trays
in addition to the styrofoam trays.
Now all of the pellets are weighed and
stored until it's ready to be remade
into new echo trays, and this whole
entire process would never be possible
without the community's participation to
separate, wash, and collect their used
plastic trays. Hence the reason why this
is a part of a Made in Japan series. So
there you go, and that's how plastic food
trays are recycled here in Japan. If you
guys like this video, help me out and hit
that like button. If you guys want to see
more videos like this, or anything
related to Japan, hit that subscribe
button on the bottom and I'll catch you
guys in the next one.