Tag - recycling

 
 

RECYCLING

On the 41st floor of the Akasaka Trust Tower, the Panoramic Tower Studio Suite at 1 Hotel Tokyo offers stunning views while keeping sight of the hotel's sustainable, down-home core.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 6, 2026
At 1 Hotel Tokyo, luxury is a zero-waste journey
Open from March, the brand’s first outpost in Japan stays true to its sustainable roots.
The Grand Ring, the symbol of the 2025 Osaka Expo in Osaka, is dismantled in March.
JAPAN / FOCUS
May 20, 2026
Osaka Expo resources find new life across Japan
In line with its principle of a sustainable expo, the association hopes to encourage the effective reuse of materials and assets from the event.
Japan is promoting fertilizer production from sewage sludge to reduce reliance on imports.
JAPAN
May 10, 2026
Local governments recover phosphorus from sewage sludge
Phosphorus is almost entirely imported. Supply disruptions triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted the central government to promote fertilizer production.
Japan has adopted an action plan to mobilize ¥1 trillion in public and private investment by 2030 to secure recycled resources and promote the reuse of plastics and metals amid intensifying global competition.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2026
Japan to invest ¥1 trillion to secure recycled resources
The plan is designed to promote the reuse of discarded plastics and metals.
A supermarket employee arranges diaper products in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, in January.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 1, 2026
Dirty diapers born again in Japan recycling breakthrough
The project hopes to ease bloated landfill sites and respond to a growing need for adult diapers in aging Japan.
A Nissan Leaf EV car and portable battery on display at Nissan Gallery in Yokohama. The Japanese auto industry is currently trying to come up with ways to ensure that used electric vehicle batteries are recycled and reused within the country.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2026
Battery recycling key to further spread of EVs in Japan
The Japanese auto industry is currently trying to come up with ways to ensure that used electric vehicle batteries are recycled and reused within the country.
The government has set a target of reducing the amount of clothing discarded from households by 25% by fiscal 2030 from the level in fiscal 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jan 4, 2026
Japan to draw up action plan to reduce clothing waste
The ministry estimates that Japanese households bought around 770,000 tons of clothes in 2024, while about 510,000 tons ended up incinerated or dumped into landfills.
Under the current law, storage is regulated only when scrap brought into yards is classified as “waste.”
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2025
Japan to introduce permit system for scrapyard businesses
The move is a response to cases in which environmental problems like fire and soil contamination were caused by improper storage of such scrap as used metals and plastics.
TBM has begun preparations for an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth Market, with an offering as early as 2027 “not off the table.”
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2025
Japan carbon-capture startup’s IPO in 2027 ‘not off the table’
TBM has started preparatory work for an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth Market.
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 9, 2025
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo’s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 countries scoured Tokyo’s streets for discarded wrappers, crushed cans and cigarette butts.
A flea market in Kyoto. Local governments in Japan have been urged to mediate between citizens and businesses to expand secondhand markets.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Oct 20, 2025
Japan pushes reuse market as new consumption model
The Environment Ministry plans to compile a road map by the end of March 2026 outlining medium- to long-term measures to further boost growth of the sector.
A 1978 picture shows King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, wearing a Barbour jacket as he attends a cross country hunt event in Cirencester, England. Barbour jackets can be worn for decades because one can get them rewaxed.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2025
This old thing? Why brands are hyping well-worn, heritage hand-me-downs
Shoppers, particularly Gen Zers, are becoming more attracted to used items, even paying top dollar for weathered jeans and jackets.
Garment workers at a factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh, in April.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 5, 2025
Bangladesh’s textile firms turn to technology to sort waste crisis
Cloud-hosted software allows manufacturers to monitor waste on a digital platform and track it as it passes between factories, handlers and recyclers.
What’s worse, waking up to find a bear going through your trash or getting an earful from your neighbor on garbage separation?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 3, 2025
Don’t poke the bear: Learn how to sort your garbage the right way
Bears are increasingly wandering into towns and cities looking for food. Make sure you don’t tempt them with your leftovers.
Plastic fish-shaped soy sauce containers, which have been banned in South Australia, on Tuesday in suburban Sydney.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2025
Australian state bans fish-shaped soy sauce bottles to curb plastic pollution
The soy sauce containers were added on Monday by the government of South Australia to a list of prohibited single-use plastic products, which also include disposable straws.
A worker displays a handful of shredded hard drive pieces for e-waste processing at a facility in Festac, Nigeria, in 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 21, 2025
Urban mining eases the critical minerals crunch 
Governments are waking up to the potential of e-waste recycling, and Japan is leading the way.
Delegates rest outside of the assembly hall in Geneva on Friday after talks aimed at striking a landmark treaty on tackling the scourge of plastic pollution ended without a deal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 15, 2025
‘Bad actors’ blamed as plastic pollution treaty talks end again without deal
Countries said they wanted further negotiations despite six rounds of talks over three years having failed to find agreement.
The government is considering requiring handheld fans to be recycled, in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2025
Japan may make recycling handheld fans mandatory
The consideration comes in the wake of a host of fires caused by rechargeable electric devices during disposal work.
An Afghan woman walks next to a pile of trash full of plastic bags in Kabul.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 10, 2025
Momentum sagging at U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks
The negotiations have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.
Ecuadorian Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso at the start of plastic waste treaty negotiations in Geneva on Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 9, 2025
U.N. plastic pollution treaty talks progress not ‘sufficient’: chair
The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four days left to find consensus on a legally binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival