Reduce / Reuse / Recycle

December 14, 2008

 

Efforts for Reuse of Glass Bottles Expanding in Southern Kyushu

Keywords: Non-manufacturing industry Reduce / Reuse / Recycle 

JFS/R-marked bottles
Copryright Tanaka Shoten


Efforts to reuse 900-ml glass bottles marked with the initial R (reuse, returnable), which are used for shochu, a Japanese distilled spirit, have been expanding in areas of southwest Japan, such as Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures. These bottles are manufactured in Southern Kyushu in line with a unified standard, and when consumers bring such bottles to liquor stores, the stores purchase them at five yen per bottle.

This initiative for reusing "R-marked" bottles is a core business of the Minamata Eco-Town in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, which is an industrial park consisting of several recycling-related companies. The bottles collected are washed for reuse at Tanaka Shoten, a glass bottle trader in the Eco Town. The previous glass bottles were lightweight and coated on their surface for reinforcement, but when the coatings were removed during washing, more than 40 percent of such bottles were broken. Thus, Tanaka Shoten and etc., developed stronger glass bottles and started the reuse business in April 2004.

Initially, the rate of bottle collection was less than 10 percent, but this has increased to about 60 percent with the help of consumers. One of the examples is a citizen's group in Kumamoto Prefecture that set up a network to promote the use of marked bottles. Some major Japanese-style pub chains in Tokyo have also begun purchasing shochu in reusable bottles in order to save money, as it is costly to dispose of glass bottles as garbage.

- Kyoto Starts New System for Reusable Beverage Bottles (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026514.html
- Reusable Glass Bottles In Japan (Related JFS Newsletter)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/mailmagazine/newsletter/
pages/027782.html

Posted: 2008/12/14 06:24:01 AM

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