How Japan Uniquely Recycles Plastic - Made in Japan

This is how Japan Recycles Plastic Trays. I’m at the Ibaraki Kanto recycling factory of Japan’s largest plastic food container producer, FPCO. This Japanese factory recycles used plastic food trays to make brand new ones. In fact, they are the first company in the world who started tray-to-tray container production. 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 factories. About 5 tons of plastic trays are collected every day at this factory. 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 38kg 83lbs, compared to the US at a steady #1 producing 105kg 231lbs of plastic waste per person, with the UK in 2nd at 99Kg. That said, Japan recycles about 20% of that plastic waste for reuse. First thing you may notice is that the trays arrive rather clean. And I can vouch, with no stench. In Japan, before placing the 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.

FP Corporation food tray container FP Corporation
FPCO Method Circular Recycling

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I'm from TOKYO JAPAN, I've been living here for a long time. I'll be your Tokyo Travel Guide, taking you to the spots I love as well as showing you what to do all around Japan and maybe sometimes overseas. I'm also into Tech so you'll see a few videos about my drone and other cool toys I discover. In short, the channel is all about what I Love, Japan, Food, Travel, Tech and most likely coming FROM-TOKYO, my home.

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[aisadal]

You bringing us to places like this where access is usually restricted to the public, while also detailing their history, makes the inner kid in me happy; it's like an educational series I used to watch on TV ☺️

[RandyLy]

I'm an environmental engineer for the US federal government. I visited Japan and noticed the amount of plastic they used and thought there would be issues in the near future until I saw how they managed their waste and separated all of their waste streams. The fact that the community washes, organizes, and separates their waste before dropping it off at a recycling facility makes them way ahead of the curve. Here in the US, we have issues with Single stream recycling because everything just goes in the blue bin and people "wishcycle" hoping that whatever they throw in the bin does get recycled, not knowing that it can cause problems. If only the US and other developed countries were up to Japanese standards, we could do so much better for the environment.
Thanks for sharing!

[Kronos]

I always was curious how Japan handled its plastic. Thank you for bringing us such great content, Paolo.

[roonboo]

I watched a video on another YouTube channel about the public’s job in separating and cleaning their recycling prior to collection and I couldn’t help thinking that this kind of public help in a recycling program would never work where I’m from because people would just refuse to comply. I think Japan’s commitment to helping in the process is amazing!

[kaeru-od]

Japan is often criticized by foreign countries for using too much plastic, so thank you for uploaded a video that helps people understand a little bit more about recycling plastic.
We are doing our best to keep plastic out of the just trash as much as possible...

[hokshii]

hiring workers with handicaps, including recycling into children's education, reducing co2 emissions... i'm so thoroughly impressed by the process! while i'm more on the side of companies producing products that don't need to use so much plastic in the first place, it's amazing to see how japan takes responsibility for collecting and reusing the material! many kudos to all the people who clean and recycle those trays too.

i live in japan right now and i usually see these hugs plastic bags outside of grocery stores that collect people's plastic trays for recycling, and now i get to know how they're likely collected and sent to the recycling centers! thanks so much for all the informative content, paolo!

[rodaxel]

Imagine if every country had this kind of facility together with the community doing it's part of cleaning the used plastics. Also I like they purify and use the water. Nothing goes to waste.

[m.e.]

Thanks Paolo.. you and FBCO are showing that a better world is possible.

[jacksonueland]

One of the reasons I love Japan, the cooperation and discipline of the general public like the way they wash their recyclables, so respectable

[Ohhcrystaal]

Whenever I stayed with family in Japan, I always thought how difficult it is to sort out the trash compared to the US. I imagined that Japan was doing a good job in terms of recycling so thank you for sharing this video!! I’ve always wanted to see how it worked

[mrsseasea]

I worked for a Japanese owned company here in USA, and they are such caring people. ✌🏽

[FREED-dioc]

I love how Japanese take pride in their job. It should be like this everywhere in the world. BIG RESPECT to Japan!

[zengliren]

It is already amazing when all the plastic food containers come to the facility so clean. Respect to the Japanese people.

[DuchessMimrose]

I love how each of the workers have their own rhythm and style, some are fairly calmly sorting and then there are others just going ham! :D

[trumpeter]

when paolo asked " what do you do when it starts hurting" really stung like doesnt have a clue how average people at a job can't get away with taking a rest and often have to work through the pain.

[rajeshvaidya]

These people are wonderful. When I came to Japan 20 years back our neighbor told us to wash plastic containers before throwing them in a garbage bin. We used to do that for many years. We also separated burnable and non burnable wastes. Now days it is not required as they have some machine which can separate plastic and burnable. By seeing all this things I started talking unique tours to Japan. There are so many things people don't know about Japan. Thanks Paolo-san. Great video indeed.

[jacobrip]

I wish we did more of this in the USA. My hats off to Japan.

[AP-qtmt]

Paolo's production level with these videos are on par if not even better than big media companies.

[funsky]

This is what makes the Japanese workforce amazing, their dedication and passion about every aspect of their work! OMG, these guys are inspirational - seriously!

[litlsteps]

Fun Fact: There's actually a place in Japan called Kamikatsu Village which recycles ALMOST if not EVERYTHING from the typical trash. they literally have a list of 40 or more types of garbage seperation that all residents follows. when i first saw it, i am utterly ashamed that i can even laze around on throwing garbage on to a proper trashcan let alone seperate them >.<