＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
At the G20 held in Osaka on June 28-29, 2019, a goal to reduce marine plastic waste (waste plastic) to zero by 2050 (“2050 Zero”) was agreed upon. This is called the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision. However, there are various problems to be solved in order to realize this goal.
１．Marine Plastic Waste Problem
Recently, the “plastic waste problem” has become a hot topic here and there. In particular, the “marine plastic waste problem” seems to be particularly serious, with 8 million tons of plastic waste flowing into the ocean every year.
It is estimated that there is already 150 million tons of plastic litter in the ocean, and if this trend continues, it is projected to grow to the same amount as fish in the ocean by 2050.
As many as 700 species, including endangered species, have been harmed or killed in the ocean due to entanglement in or accidental ingestion of marine debris, and it is estimated that 92% of these deaths are due to marine plastic debris.
２．Solutions to the Marine Plastic Waste Problem
Basically, plastic waste is “recycled,” “incinerated,” or disposed of in landfills. However, in addition to the inflow of litter into rivers, large amounts of marine plastic litter seem to be generated due to the lack of waste disposal facilities or “improper disposal” in Asian countries that are indifferent to waste disposal.
The ranking of “Plastic Litter Generated from Land Discharged into the Ocean” (2010 estimate) is as follows.
1st: China 3.53 million tons, 2nd: Indonesia 1.29 million tons, 3rd: Philippines 750,000 tons, 4th: Vietnam 730,000 tons, 5th: Sri Lanka 640,000 tons, … 20th: USA 110,000 tons, … 30th: Japan 60,000 tons
As this shows, the problem of marine plastic waste cannot be solved without drastic improvement of waste disposal methods in Asian countries such as China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is enthusiastic about strengthening his military power, threatening neighboring countries with maritime advances such as “building offshore military bases,” and making moves toward African countries that resemble the colonial policies of former imperialist countries, but seems indifferent to environmental pollution issues such as PM2.5 and the problem of ocean plastic waste However, they seem indifferent to environmental pollution problems such as PM2.5 and marine plastic waste.
The international community should first demand that the above countries, which discharge large amounts of marine plastic waste, establish a system to properly dispose of and manage their waste.
The above countries should also take appropriate measures, such as strengthening the guidance of their own citizens regarding waste discharge.
Asian countries such as China should promote thorough “incineration” or “landfill disposal” even if it is impossible to “recycle” at this stage.
If “thermal recycling,” in which energy is recovered by incinerating waste to heat and steam for use in generating electricity, heating facilities, and supplying hot springs to nearby facilities, could be realized as in Japan, it would be a good measure against PM2.5.
In the West, “thermal recycling” is not recognized as recycling because it emits carbon dioxide, but the carbon dioxide emissions from “thermal recycling” are negligible, and I think the Western way of thinking is rigid. Is this another sign of “Japan bashing” from a cynical point of view?
３．Restrictions and Charges on Plastic Bags (Plastic Shopping Bags) in Japan Are Excessive
Polyethylene is an inevitable product of the petroleum refining process at ethylene plants, and plastic products such as plastic bags and PET bottles are an “effective use” of this product.
These plastic bags are inexpensive, and after being used as shopping bags, they are very convenient as garbage bags. To treat them as “bad” is a real turn-off.
It is sufficient to collect plastic bags as combustible waste and incinerate them instead of littering them. Plastic contamination during incineration is a good thing, as it avoids unnecessary oiling and increases calories.
Furthermore, plastic bags (plastic shopping bags) are estimated to account for about 2% of the plastic litter produced in Japan in a year; according to a coastal litter survey conducted by the Ministry of the Environment at 10 sites in Japan in 2016, plastic bags, including plastic shopping bags, accounted for 0.3% of plastic litter by volume, and tableware such as straws and forks accounted for only 0.5% of plastic litter by volume. The percentage of plastic bags was 0.3% by volume. Industrial items such as fishing nets and ropes (26.2%) and Styrofoam buoys (14.9%) accounted for a high percentage, while beverage bottles accounted for 12.7% of the household-related items.
The current trend is to “look at the trees and not the forest” and “leave the big holes (in China and Southeast Asian countries) in the bucket with holes without repairing them, while trying hard to repair the small holes (in developed countries such as Japan). As a result, water leakage (marine plastic waste pollution) appears to be little improved”.
After all, the first priority is to curb the discharge of marine plastic waste from countries that are discharging large amounts of plastic waste into the ocean. Japan needs to continue its efforts to prevent plastic waste from leaking into the ocean.
However, the trend to go out of its way to force people to pay for or stop using inexpensive plastic bags seems to miss the point.
It is not a bad thing that technological advances are being made through research and development of alternatives to plastics that can be degraded in the ocean.
However, the current trend seems somewhat off the mark.
