Aluminium gradually outperforms plastic bottles to combat ocean pollution in Japan

A group of Japanese beverage sellers and retailers in recent times progressed to desert the usage of plastic bottles, substituting them with aluminium bottles and cans in a proposal to counter ocean plastic pollution, inflicting disruption with the ecosystem.

Ryohin Keikaku Co., operator of retail brand Muji, the seller of 12 types of teas and soft drinks have received in aluminium cans following the April data exhibited the rate of horizontal recycling that grants for the reuse of materials in an analogous function, was considerably towering for such cans nudging to plastic bottles.

As per the Japan Aluminium Association and the Council for PET Bottle Recycling, the rate of horizontal recycling for aluminium cans remains at 71.0% compared to 24.3% for plastic bottles.

However, in the case of plastic bottles, as the material erodes over multiple sessions of recycling, they often end up being remodelled into plastic trays for food.

Simultaneously, aluminium cans have the ability to prevent their contents far superiorly from degenerating as their opacity keeps light screened from damaging them. Ryohin Keikaku rolled out those cans also to slash on wasted drinks.

According to the vendor, by substituting plastic to aluminium cans, the expiry dates for soft drinks were stretched by 90 days to 270 days, while the packages were freshly designed to incorporate illustrations and different colours to specify the contents of the drinks, which are visible in transparent plastic bottles.

Many other companies have also outperformed plastic bottles for aluminium cans, while Dydo Group Holdings Inc. remains one of them, who replaced containers for a total of six items, counting coffees and sports drinks, earlier in 2021.

Dydo, which operates vending machines, drove the change to excel in a recycling-oriented society following requests from companies that host the machines.

The progress toward efficient recycling has also been gaining attraction globally, as mineral water was supplied in aluminium cans at the Group of Seven summit in June 2021 in Britain, whereas, the world leader in consumer goods Unilever PLC said in April 2021, it would begin selling shampoo in aluminium bottles in the United States.

Yoshihiko Kimura, Head of the Japan Aluminium Association, said: “Aluminum is gaining momentum.”

The association has initiated to campaign the propaganda of aluminium from July through its social networking platform and chalks out to hold an art contest using such cans later in 2021 to ferment awareness.