About Chemistry, Environment, Waste Management and Green Life Inspirations

01 May 2012

Ajinomoto Adopts Eco-Friendly Recycling Method for Bottled Coffee



JFS/Ajinomoto Adopts Eco-Friendly Recycling Method for Bottled Coffee JFS/Ajinomoto Adopts Eco-Friendly Recycling Method for Bottled Coffee
Copyright Ajinomoto General Foods, Inc.

Ajinomoto General Foods, Inc. (AGF), a major Japanese manufacturer of food and beverage products, announced on November 21, 2011, that it would introduce polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles recycled from used PET bottles utilizing what it calls a "PET bottle-to-PET bottle" recycling method. AGF started gradual introduction of the plastic bottles nicknamed "Friendly Bottles" for all of the main Blendy bottled coffee products in February 2012.
About 90 percent of used PET bottles were recycled to low-quality materials such as egg boxes and trays for food. However, the new method, the world's only chemical recycling technology, will make it possible to chemically dissolve used PET bottles into PET material, refine the material into PET resin, and produce PET bottles of identical quality to new ones that are from petroleum-derived materials.
With this technology, the use of oil-based PET raw materials will be reduced by about 60 percent annually. Additionally, the energy impact assessed by the *Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) method will decrease by about 20 percent annually compared to conventional PET bottles, thereby positively contributing to recycling-oriented society.
*LCI analysis is a technique to quantitatively compile, evaluate and interpret environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from manufacture to use and disposal.
Suntory Completes Japanese Industry's First B-to-B Recycling System for PET Bottles (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/031145.html
Coca-Cola Japan to Introduce Sugarcane-based PET Bottles for Its Beverages (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029801.html
Posted: 2012/04/28 06:00:15 AM

18 January 2012

Rise in Awareness of Electricity Conservation, Home Solar Power Systems Seen after Earthquake in Japan



Image by okadots. Some Rights Reserved.


Housing Company, part of the Sekisui Chemical Group, released on August 18, 2011, the results of its post-disaster survey targeting owners of photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems. In the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake in March, having encountered power supply failures and rolling blackouts in many areas, respondents showed that they had greater awareness the capacity of their PV systems to provide a supply of electricity for their own use on fine weather days. (The systems are normally set to provide power directly to the power grid instead of for the owner's own use.)

According to the survey, 80 percent of respondents "knew how to use a PV system in the stand-alone mode," while those who actually switched to this mode accounted for 67 percent in quake-hit areas and 33 percent in areas hits by rolling blackouts. Among those who used the stand-alone mode, the majority (86%) said used the power to charge mobile phones, followed by rice cookers (51%), and televisions (40%). Some also reported that sharing electricity with neighbors contributed to better neighbourly relations.

Meanwhile, the Group's Housing Environment Institute released on August 22, 2011, the results of its survey on awareness and electricity conservation behavior of PV users after the earthquake. The results show that more people were eager to save electricity afterwards compared to the same survey conducted before the quake, in January 2011.

The survey also showed (1) that people tended to more actively try to save electricity after the earthquake; (2) that compared with the general population, PV users reported having lower stress about power-saving efforts and saved most power at peak power consumption times of the day; (3) that interest in PVs has been increasing, especially in eastern Japan; and (4) that interest in storage batteries and learning life skills for power-saving have been boosted.

Sekisui Chemical Achieves Record with Home Photovoltaic Installations (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026771.html