The Japan Containers and Packaging Recycling Association

60% of Municipal Solid Waste in Japan Consists of Containers and Wrapping		Ratio of "Containers and Wrapping" in Household Waste (Source: 1995 Survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare)

Each year about 35 million tons of waste are discarded by households in Japan (in 1995). This, along with a shortage of landfill sites, became a major social problem, and it became particularly urgent to reduce waste containers and wrapping, which occupied 60% of total waste by volume. It was under these conditions that the Containers and Packaging Recycling Act was born in 1995.

What Do "Containers" and "Wrapping" Mean?

Containers and Wrapping included in recycling obligations

Containers, including bags, are used for storing merchandise, and wrapping is used for wrapping packages with wrapping materials. Under the Containers and Packaging Recycling Act, containers and wrapping are defined as the items "that become unnecessary when the contents have been consumed or removed."

*	The four items below are excluded from recycling obligations as they are traded on the market. Steel cans Aluminum cans Drink cartons Cardboard

Users and Manufacturers Assume the "Responsibility"		Roles of parties required by the Act

Under the Act, the following business entities are considered the "specified business entities": Manufacturers who use containers and wrapping for shipping their products, retailers and wholesalers who use containers and wrapping for selling merchandise, manufacturers of containers, importers who import and sell merchandise in containers or wrapping, and importers of containers. They have been assigned the responsibility of recycling these containers and wrapping in accordance with the volume that they manufacture or sell. In reality, however, it would be difficult for individual business entities to collect waste containers and wrapping from respective municipalities and recycle them on their own. To provide an alternative, the JCPRA, a government-designated organization, operates recycling business on behalf of the specified business entities that pay "recycling fees" to the JCPRA. In this way they fulfil their legal obligation.

Notes on Terminology
In this website, the term "containers" is used to mean bottles, boxes or the like into which merchandise is placed, and "wrapping" to mean wrapping paper or the like in which merchandise is wrapped; and the term "containers and packaging" is used to mean both only in the names of the Act and the designated organization.