Environmental Burdens: Discarded Empty Containers This Is How Much Recycled Resources We Used In Packaging and How Many Empty Containers We Have Recycled After Consumption. On a volume basis, packaging accounts for about 60% of all municipal waste. For a company like TaKaRa that uses a lot of packaging, it's important to face squarely the environmental problems caused by containers and packaging, as society's goals of zero emissions and waste reduction are unattainable unless the problem of what to do with used containers is attacked first. Packaging's environmental impact has two aspects: the first is the amount of secondary materials used to make containers and packaging (in other words, how many natural resources are being saved), and the second is how many of the post-production, post-consumer empties are recycled to be used again. Traditionally, glass bottles have seen the widest use in the alcoholic beverage industry, and TaKaRa is no exception. Yet the trend to maximize production and distribution efficiency and the consumer preference for more convenient, one-way containers is among the reasons for a general trend in the drink market away from recyclable packaging. TaKaRa will continue to use highly recyclable containers whenever and wherever we can and to make efforts to raise the recycling and reuse rates in segments where they are low. Yet TaKaRa cannot do this alone: the industry must unite and then join hands with consumers and create a lasting partnership to solve this problem.

Note: Aluminum cans and glass bottles, which, after recycling, are used again as materials to make aluminum cans and bottles, have higher percentages of secondary material use and of recycling. Development of PET-to-PET technology, namely the use of PET bottles to make more of the same, is still to come.

Sources for data Rate of usage of secondary materials: Glass bottles: Japan Glass Bottle Association, 1997 data Aluminum cans: TaKaRa's calculations, based on fiscal 1997 data from the Japan Aluminum Can Recycling Association: 146,180 tons (quantity of materials used to make new cans from returned aluminum cans) / 262,691 tons (Japan's domestic aluminum can shipments) = 55.6% Steel cans: TaKaRa estimate Beverage cartons (for alcohol): TaKaRa estimate PET bottles: TaKaRa estimate Cardboard: Monthly Paper & Pulp Statistics 1996 Recycling rate: Refillable bottles: Estimates based on TaKaRa data on fiscal 1997 return rates and on data for 1.8 liter bottles compiled by the Bottle Reuser Association One-way bottles: 1996 data from the Glass Bottle Recycling Promoter Association: 750,000 Tons (portion of returned bottles used as raw materials of glass + portion of multi-purpose materials) / 1,950,000 tons (used one-way bottles) = approximately 39% Aluminum cans: Fiscal 1997 data from the Japan Aluminum Can Recycling Association Steel cans: Fiscal 1997 data from the Japan steel Recycling Association Beverage cartons (for alcohol): TaKaRa estimate PET bottles: Fiscal 1997 data from The Council For Pet Bottle Recycling Cardboard: Monthly Paper & Pulp Statistics 1996 HOME | TOP