EXCLUSIVE: Japan Eyeing Subsidies to Promote Biomass Plastics

August 16, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Environment Ministry plans to create a subsidy program designed to promote the use of environment-friendly biomass plastics and paper in place of existing petroleum-based plastic products, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.

The subsidies will cover half to two-thirds of biomass plastics and paper makers' costs for production facilities, such as machine tools, informed sources said, adding that the ministry plans to establish the program in fiscal 2019 from April next year.

The ministry will seek several billions of yen for the program under the government's fiscal 2019 budget.

The ministry aims to reduce the country's dependence on oil at a time when concerns over plastic waste's ecological impacts are growing, the sources said.

Biomass plastics, made of such plants as corn and sugar cane, emit less carbon dioxide than petroleum-based plastics during production processes. Among biomass plastic products, those that decompose in nature can minimize harmful effects on the ecosystem.

In Japan, consumption of plastic products, including those made of petroleum, totaled 9.8 million tons in fiscal 2016.

In its program to combat global warming, the Japanese government has set a target of increasing domestic shipments of biomass plastics to 1.97 million tons in fiscal 2030. But shipments stood at only 40,000 tons in fiscal 2015, as biomass plastics are costlier than petroleum-based products.

At this year's summit of the Group of Seven major countries in Canada in June, Japan refrained from signing the Ocean Plastics Charter, which sets plastic recycling targets, giving the impression that Tokyo is not active in tackling plastic waste problems.

By promoting reductions in Japan's reliance on petroleum-based plastics, the ministry hopes to highlight the country's efforts to tackle plastic waste, at next year's summit of the Group of 20 major and emerging economies that will be held in Japan, the sources said. Jiji Press