Particularly relevant targets:
- 14.1 Prevent marine pollution of all kinds
- 14.2 Marine and coastal ecosystem restoration
Related material sustainability themes:
- Quality of Living Environment
- Urban and Community Development
- Decarbonized and recycling-based society
Plastic waste, including microplastics, and PET bottle waste are leading to marine pollution and are becoming a major problem. Our group has set "a carbon-free, circular society" as one of Material sustainability themes (materiality), and in our Environmental Vision 2030 we have set a target for reducing waste per unit of production. By reducing plastic waste and PET bottle waste while working towards a circular society, we believe that we can contribute to this goal as well as "Number 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns."
Minami-Machida Grandberry Park 's "UMILE Program" aims to create recycling-based society
Tokyu Railways and Unilever Japan have begun a demonstration experiment in March 2022 to install and recycle collection boxes for used plastic containers of Unilever products at Minami-Machida Grandberry Park Den-en-toshi Line Line, aiming to create recycling-based society where plastic does not become waste.
You can earn "UMILE" points in two ways: by putting empty plastic containers of Unilever products that have been washed and dried after use at home into a collection box and "saving up by recycling," or by "saving up by buying" Unilever refill products. UMILE can be exchanged for LINE points or donated to organizations that work for children. Collected empty containers are processed and recycled at a recycling plant and are recycled into eco-goods and other products. At the same time, we are also considering "bottle to bottle" (horizontal recycling), which returns plastic containers to containers again.
Until now, Unilever Japan's program has mainly installed collection boxes at retail stores, but by installing collection boxes at stations in this demonstration experiment, it will provide an environment where a wider range of people can easily recycle plastics in various situations, such as before commuting to work or school on weekdays or when going out on weekends and holidays. The collection boxes to be installed at Minami-Machida Grandberry Park Station feature an original design made from the uniforms of Tokyu Railways station attendants that were scheduled to be discarded.
Tokyu Hotels to eliminate plastic bottles in guest rooms and introduce eco-friendly amenities
In fiscal 2021, Tokyu REI Hotels discontinued the use of plastic bottled water provided free of charge in guest rooms and gradually switched to water servers. In fiscal 2022, Tokyu Hotels and Excel Hotel Tokyu brands also discontinued the use of plastic bottles provided free of charge in guest rooms and switched to other materials and water servers. This initiative will reduce the waste of approximately 3.2 million plastic bottles at all stores in fiscal 2022, leading to a reduction of approximately 96 tons of waste (compared to fiscal 2019). As an example, Shimoda Tokyu Hotel provides water in aluminum cans, which have a high recycling rate, and Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel Tokyu has installed water servers on each floor and prepared "Forest My Bottles" made of a material made of thinned cypress wood from Wakayama Prefecture mixed with plastic as a container for carrying water to guest rooms.
Not only this, we will also be introducing toothbrushes with handles made from Kaneka's biodegradable biopolymer Green Planet®. This material biodegrades even in seawater, helping to reduce marine pollution, and this will be the first time in Japan that toothbrushes made from Green Planet® have been introduced. Other amenities, take-out cutlery (spoons, forks, knives), restaurant straws and stirrers will also be replaced with eco-friendly materials or eliminated, aiming to be a "hotel that is kind to the earth, the city, and people," while also putting into practice the motto, "Connecting everyday life to a sustainable tomorrow."
