Kobe City and CLOMA Participating Companies Take on the Challenge Launching a Project to Collect and Recycle Lactobacillus Beverage Containers

Started a project to collect and recycle lactobacillus beverage containers

As part of "KOBE PLASTIC NEXT," the City of Kobe has been working since October 1, 2021 to promote more efficient and higher quality recycling by collecting plastic items suitable for recycling by item with clearly defined purposes of use.

This project is part of a working group activity of the Japan Clean Ocean Material Alliance (CLOMA), in which Kobe City participates as an observer, to promote a project to collect and recycle polystyrene lactobacillus beverage containers. This is a cross-industry initiative involving eight CLOMA member companies.

Kobe City is the first city to collect only lactobacillus beverage containers made of polystyrene in collaboration with Yakult Honsha and other brand owners and local governments.

1. project participants (parties to the agreement)
Kobe City
Yakult Honsha Co.
Nissin Foods Holdings Co.
digglue, Inc.
Veolia Genets, Inc.
DIC Corporation
PS Japan K.K.
Otsuka Packaging Industries Co.
Amita Holdings Corporation

Details of collaboration
(1) Matters related to the realization of the construction of a scheme for the collection, transport, transportation, and recycling (material recycling processing) of lactobacillus beverage containers made of polystyrene material discharged by Kobe citizens.
(2) Matters related to community revitalization and improvement of citizen services, such as citizen participation events
(3) Other matters related to the promotion of sustainable urban development

3. efforts to recycle lactobacillus beverage containers
From September 1, 2023 (Fri.), collection boxes for used lactobacillus beverage containers will be set up at the Futaba and Azuma resource collection stations for a limited time.

Collected lactobacillus beverage containers will be used in CLOMA's working group activities for technological demonstration of "material recycling processing and commercialization" to establish a method for collecting used lactobacillus beverage containers and to study their recycling.

(Reference) What is recycling that keeps on turning?
Effective recycling is a common issue worldwide in order to further promote the recycling of plastic resources. Kobe City is taking on the challenge of "recycling that keeps on turning" to rationally recycle plastic resources through group collection, base collection, and in-store collection, focusing on items that are easy to recycle. This challenge is not limited to the City of Kobe, but is also a collaborative effort with companies that aim for innovation in recycling technology.

［Initiatives 1] Horizontal recycling of refill packs

The City of Kobe and 18 retailers, manufacturers of daily necessities, and recyclers (recycling companies)(*) have collaborated to realize a recycling-oriented society, and have installed collection boxes at 75(*) retail stores in Kobe City to collect used refill packs of daily necessities such as detergent and shampoo and sort them for recycling back into refill packs. The "Kobe Plastic Next - Let's connect with each other. Refill pack recycling" has been implemented since October 1, 2021 (Sunday).
(*As of August 2023)

［Initiatives 2] Resource Collection Stations

In November 2021, the first resource collection station in the country specializing in plastic resources was established, which collects high-quality plastic resources and serves as a base for practicing "continuous recycling, The stations are used by many people, and are located at 10 locations in the city*.
(*As of August 2023)

［Initiatives 3] Bottle-to-bottle recycling

In FY2022, we started bottle-to-bottle recycling, in which PET bottles from the Resource Recycling Center are recycled into PET bottles, which are then handed over to recyclers who conduct mechanical recycling (after crushing and washing to remove foreign substances, the bottles are processed under high temperature for recycling) and chemical recycling (after crushing and washing to remove foreign substances, the bottles are processed by chemical decomposition for The used PET bottles are handed over to recyclers who conduct mechanical recycling (crushing, washing, and removal of foreign substances, followed by treatment under high temperature for recycling) and chemical recycling (crushing, washing, removal of foreign substances, followed by treatment under chemical degradation for recycling), respectively.

What is CLOMA (Clean Ocean Materials Alliance)?

A corporate alliance that aims to solve the marine plastic waste problem through a future vision of plastic resource recycling. Our activities are based on social innovation in cooperation with the national government, local governments, and consumers.
(As of July 28, 2023: 498 member companies and organizations, 22 observer organizations and municipalities)https://cloma.net/

KOBE PLASTIC NEXT

The enormous amount of plastic that continues to increase every year has become a major social issue, such as the marine litter problem and the difficulty of recycling, etc. KOBE PLASTIC NEXT is a project to communicate the current status and issues of the plastic problem and to consider future measures for plastic in order to make it a sustainable resource. KOBE PLASTIC NEXT is a project to inform people about the current situation and issues of plastic problems and to think about measures to be taken in the future to make plastic a sustainable resource.http://kobeplasticnext.jp/