Climate Changed
3 Million Plastic Bags in Osaka Bay Cloud Japan's Anti-Waste Push
- Shinzo Abe leads G-20 call for action against ocean waste
- Packaging-obsessed host lags other nations’ moves to cut back
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As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe highlights the global scourge of seaborne plastic waste during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka this week, evidence of his own country’s reluctance to address the problem will be sitting just outside the window.
Osaka Bay contains as many as three million plastic shopping bags, according to a study released earlier this month by a local university researcher. The carpet of mud-covered plastic lining the seafloor illustrates the ecological cost of Japan’s obsession with packaging, helping to make the country the world’s second-largest per capita consumer of disposable plastics after the U.S., according to the United Nations.