Japan keen on bioplastics, but implementation slow - A point of view!

Japan is one of the hot spots today for using plant-based plastics, with grocery chains, car makers and electronics firms all taking a serious look at the materials, and
some, like Fujitsu Ltd., making a splash with a notebook personal computer housing made partially from corn-based polylactic acid (PLA) polymer.
Japanese firms are taking a keen interest in bioplastics, and the country’s government in 2002 set the ambitious goal that, by 2020, 20 percent of plastics used in Japan should come from renewable feedstocks, rather than traditional petrochemicals.
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Bioplastics remain, at most, about 1 percent of the country’s plastics market, said Inomata Isao, adviser to the Japan BioPlastics Association (JBPA)

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JBPA estimated in 2005 that the market in Japan for biodegradable plastics, which would not include the broader category of bio-based materials, was just 30,000 metric tons out of a total plastic market of 14 million metric tons. It may not be much larger today, as the materials are still relatively expensive and supplies can be limited, although those conditions are changing, Inomata said.

But, he said, it would be wrong to think progress isn’t being made.

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Mazda Motor Corp., for example, said in June it entered into a research project with a Japanese university to develop a biomass-based plastic with enough strength and heat resistance to be used in car bumpers and instrument panels.
As well, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. in May launched a three-year research project to develop a bio-based polycarbonate, along with a biodegradable polymer.
Inomata said that while many projects may be pilot-scale or limited to the Japanese market, he compared bioplastics developments today with Toyota’s lengthy research on its Prius hybrid-electric car, before the right market conditions existed.
“Of course there are demonstration projects still, but actually [companies] utilize the bio-based plastics for their products so they can accumulate processing technology,” he said.
“That is their target. Many Japanese companies like electronics and automobile makers have the concept that environmentally friendly products will be good business in the medium-term.
“If that time comes, it is too late to start their development to accumulate the technologies,” he said.
To help develop the market, JBPA in 2006 started what it claims is the world’s only certification program for products containing biomass-based plastic content, said Kohnami Setsuo, JBPA general manager. The program includes a logo easily recognizable by consumers.
The JBPA certification, called BiomassPla, says products must contain 25 percent by weight bio-based plastic. So far, JBPA has certified 51 products, from bags and bottles to printer parts and film.

Consumer attitudes are changing in the country, industry officials said. Many consumers in Japan are asking for more information about a product’s environmental impact and terms like carbon footprint and life cycle analysis are becoming mainstream, said Hotani Yasunari, the Tokyo-based managing director of Japan for PLA maker NatureWorks LLC.
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JBPA’s Inomata shied away from making any firm predictions about how quickly Japan’s bio-based plastics market will develop.
“To say how much, it is very difficult,” he said. “The trend is increasing, that is certain, but how much depends on the situation, not only the market but also the technologies.”
Whether biomaterials can become 20 percent of the plastics market, or 5 percent, depends on technology developments such as how quickly companies can make bioplastics from nonedible agricultural supplies, he said. At present, bio-based plastics use edible foodstuffs as raw materials, he said.
The Japanese government does not provide any direct subsidies to the bioplastics industry, and it’s very difficult to convince the Japanese government to write a law banning or favoring a specific product, like the plastic bag bans becoming common in other countries, Inomata said.
Still, he said, the government is providing support for basic level research, such as on making bioplastics from nonfood agricultural products.
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