Waste & Recycling

Groups of researchers from Japan, the United States, Europe and other regions studying marine waste plan to draw up international guidelines aimed at getting a better grasp on the actual situation.

Japanese engineering company JGC will build facilities that convert plastic waste into raw materials used for chemical production, the corporation said Wednesday, a move that will help process discarded plastics no longer accepted by China and other emerging nations.

Toyota Motor Corp. has started recycling hybrid-vehicle batteries in Thailand, aiming to establish a sustainable process for the power source behind eco-friendly cars and cut costs.

Sixteen Japanese companies will support efforts to capture carbon dioxide emissions and turn them into fuel and industrial materials, seeking to mitigate damage to the environment caused by the continued use of fossil fuels.

Cyborg technology to restore bodily functions that have declined due to aging, technology to eliminate industrial waste from the Earth's environment, and artificial hibernation are among 25 areas the Japanese government aims to support, Nikkei has learned.

Spurred by tighter international regulations, Japanese manufacturers are rushing to cash in on rising global demand for environmentally sustainable packaging.

Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining has developed a method to recycle cobalt from spent electric car batteries, allowing conservation of a relatively scarce metal, Nikkei has learned.

With plastic waste having an evermore serious impact on the oceans, the Environment Ministry is from April to start providing technical support for Southeast Asian countries — the major sources of the pollution — to contain dumping of such waste, it has been learned.

Plastic pollution in the ocean has become one of the world’s most urgent environmental problems. Footage of vast fields of floating plastic debris between California and Hawaii — now commonly known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — have driven home the gravity of the problem, with scientists and environmental groups warning that the colossal oceanic mess imperils the ecosystem and human health.

Japan’s shipments of plastic waste overseas in 2018 decreased 30 percent, figures from a research institute showed Thursday, due to restrictions China imposed on receiving such waste in late 2017.