Plastics: Japan is recycling 77%

Japan – Japan is leading the world in terms of plastics recycling with a rate of 77% for 2010 – which is about twice that of the UK and well above the 20% figure for the USA. That’s what the Plastic Waste Management Institute has told UK newspaper ‘The Guardian’.

The plastics recycling rate in Japan has increased from levels of 73% in 2006 and 39% in 1996. Since 1997, the nation’s government has passed several laws to address the disposal and treatment of plastic waste in response to rising generation by its 127-million population and a shortage of landfill space near metropolitan areas in particular.

According to the Japan Plastic Waste Management Institute, the country was responsible for the material recycling of 2.1 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2006 while 4.8 million tonnes underwent thermal recycling. Japan recycled 72% of its PET bottles in 2010 compared with figures of 48% in Europe and 29% in the USA