AKEMI ORI

More than ten years have passed since the 1999 Containers and Packaging Recycling Law was enacted in Japan, and, in fact, a discussion of the second amendment to that law is now underway. Over the past ten years, several problems with the law have become clear such as the high cost of recycling, the inefficiency of recycling methods, and the unequal burden placed on various stakeholders by the law’s implementation. The most significant problem is that the concept of “reduction” has not been as widely accepted as was first expected. There is now a need to discuss how to promote “reduction” and efficient “recycling”. In order to facilitate this, the recycling problem can be classified into three categories: 1. How to promote more qualified recycling, 2. How to promote a more efficient recycling system, and 3. How to promote a more stable recycling system. If we do not commit ourselves to the essential discussion of the main points of the law itself during the amendment process, the primary aim of the law, i. e. “reduction”, will not be accomplished. To aid the discussion, this paper introduces the recent EU environmental policy movement and the changes to member country’s packaging and recycling systems. It then discusses the key features which may also be used to improve the Japanese packaging, reduction and recycling system.