Environment Ministry Sponsors Eco-Friendly Shopping Campaign

The Japanese Ministry of the Environment sponsored an "Eco-Friendly Shopping Campaign" during the month of October, 2005, in cooperation with the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Forum for Promoting 3R Initiatives, which was formerly known as the GomiZero (zero waste) Partnership Conference.

All 47 prefectures and about 42,000 stores belonging to 94 retail chains, including department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, participated in the campaign, which promoted eco-friendly living and economic activities. Various efforts made during the campaign included creating and displaying original posters, selling eco-friendly products, promoting simpler packaging, and giving extra service stamps to those with their own shopping bags, all aimed at encouraging shoppers to practice the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle).

To reduce the use of plastic bags, which end up generating about 600,000 tons of household waste annually, the campaign particularly called on shoppers to bring their own bags to stores. This was a main theme at the annual national convention promoting zero waste held in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, in late October and also in the activities of "Team Minus 6 Percent," a national campaign to achieve Japan's Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gas reduction target of 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The Ministry of the Environment conducted another eco-event through its environmental activity website for families, called Eco Families, in which a total of 223 registered families participated in a week-long eco-contest, and successfully reduced their use of a total of 2,134 plastic bags, equivalent to CO2 emissions of about 130.2 kilograms. The ministry plans to expand its campaign and encourage people to continue to bring their own shopping bags to stores.



Posted: 2006/02/02 10:29:42 AM
Japanese version