Japan Aims to Expand "Circular Economy" Market to 80 T. Yen

Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government aims to expand the size of the domestic "circular economy" market to over 80 trillion yen by 2030 from the current 50 trillion yen, it was learned Thursday.

The target was included in a draft road map on recycling policy that the Environment Ministry presented at a meeting of a working group of the Central Environment Council on the day. The draft was broadly approved at the meeting.

According to the draft, the government plans to double by 2030 the amount of plastics collected by companies and local governments, strengthen measures to reduce food waste to 4 million tons or less and promote the recycling of rare and other metals and the shift from materials derived from fossil fuels to biomass materials.

The ministry hopes that the promotion of circular economy-related initiatives will lead to the effective use of resources as well as the reduction of waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

It also believes that circulating resources domestically is significant from the viewpoint of economic security.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]