Few places have turned their relationship to materials into an art form like Japan - rice, paper, ceramics, lacquer, and wood are amongst the materials that have coexisted in Japan for generations, giving rise to a culture deeply influenced by nature, community, and spiritual practices. Yet, one material has emerged as a bigger threat than perhaps any other before it: Plastic.

As the sun rises over Tokyo's horizon, we see this is a city scattered with waste incinerators, though its busy inhabitants scurry by, barely noticing the facilities that surround them that are hungry for their waste. An animated sequence reveals a striking truth: everything we buy is wrapped in plastic, from single strawberries to individual cookies, and an insatiable thirst for PET bottles. Japan is the world’s second-largest generator of single-use plastic waste, has the most microplastic-polluted oceans, and is the world’s leader in burning garbage. Trapped in a system that requires the continuation of mass waste generation to justify operating over 1,000 incinerators, we dig deep into Asia’s greatest, hidden greenwashing scandal. 

Our journey across Japan is an opportunity to listen to all major stakeholders connected to the issue of plastic; from garbage truck drivers-turned-activists Oikawa and Sato, to operator at one of the world’s biggest incinerators, Mikiharu Mishima, to one of Asia’s most prominent Zero Waste activists Akira Sakano; each individual’s story leads us one step closer to finding real answers to the plastic problem.

Having witnessed how our everyday trash travels through the hands of waste collectors, to the nation’s largest incinerator, and dump sites where trash creates new land in the ocean— we then  travel all the way to the village of Kamikatsu, deep in the mountains, where radical, community-led actions have sparked a movement for Zero Waste well beyond the borders of Japan. Kamikatsu has made global headlines for sorting its trash into a staggering 45 categories. Having taken systematic failures into their own hands and have created a new system that values resourcefulness, they say the solution to the global plastic issue is not recycling, incineration, or bioplastics, but a radical rethinking of our society which asks: Why do we even create waste in the first place?

PLASTIC LOVE! does not tell the story of one person or one community, because the plastic issue is neither caused by nor can be solved by one individual. Instead, we connect every stakeholder connected to plastic and uncover greenwashing and systemic failings that have led Japan — and the rest of Asia — to chase after wrong solutions for the past decades. Ultimately, we take inspiration from Japan’s zero waste movement to go on a deep dive into our human psyche; Why is it that we just cannot stop consuming so much? How can a country that on the surface seems so perfectly clean, while being one of the world’s biggest polluters, give us answers that will lead us all out of a plastic-wrapped future? 

PLASTIC LOVE!
Unwrapping Japan’s Toxic Affair With Plastic

Documentary Film
Expected length: 90min
Original Language: Japanese
Subtitles: Japanese, English

KOMICHI IKEDA —
Exec. Vice Director, Environmental Research Institute (ERI)

YUZURU OIKAWA — Zama City, Garbage Truck Driver
TAISUKE SATO — Zama City, Garbage Truck Driver

MICHIHIKO IWAMOTO —
Co-Founder, JEPLAN

EIICHI FURUSAWA—
Representative Director, Kyoei Industry

YOSHIHIDE HIRAO —
Director, Office of Recycling Promotion
Ministry of the Environment

SANAE CHIBA —
Marine Scientist

I have this image on my phone that will forever be burned into my memory. It is a photo taken of a small piece of silver jewelry, yet in this picture you cannot see the jewelry itself. Instead, it shows the 9 layers of packaging waste that resulted in my tiny purchase: 6 layers of plastic, two layers of paper and one giant cardboard box, all carefully wrapped around a needle-sized earring, shipped to my home. 

Japan is unique in the sense that the amount of single-use plastic here is enormous; yet few people seem to question why single bananas and single cookies are individually wrapped in plastic, or why Japan still burns the majority of its waste, instead of recycling it. We have been talking about plastic waste for years now, yet why have we still not moved any closer to a global solution?

I think the core of the problem is best described as a bathtub overflowing with water. We are so desperately preoccupied with scooping up the water with small buckets that we have forgotten to turn our attention to the only thing that will actually solve this issue: switching off the tap at its source.

Making this film, I realized that this whole time it wasn’t plastic that was ever the issue. The issue is, and has always been, our attachment to a life full of things. A world in which we tell each other that it is okay to use an item once for just a few seconds and then simply throw it away. A world in which the more we consume, the happier we seem to be.

One thing I want us all to remember is this: On our Earth, it isn’t possible to “throw away” garbage, because there is no such place as “away.” I hope that through PLASTIC LOVE! we can show you the many places in Japan that have become our so-called “away” — our excuse for continuing our system of mass-scale consumption.

I want to draw attention to the people behind this big story. In the three years of pulling together this film, we have held the gaze of waste workers unwilling to believe that their voices matter. We have noticed the soft slippers worn by incinerator operators, and the tender care trash collectors wash their trucks down with at the end of each day. We have met Japan’s community of social changemakers — often young and female — who have a bold vision for Japan that, I know, can lead us all out of this crisis.

Japan is my chosen home, the place that I love more than anywhere else in the world. It is painful to admit the failings of the place you care about the most, and also how I, myself, am contributing to this toxic system. But PLASTIC LOVE! is more than just this journey of discovery. It is also my love story with Japan itself.

As with any great love, looking at the issues can be painful. This film is a way to express some of this pain, but also a way to share my hope and show you that Japan already has all the tools it needs to fix this issue: the resourcefulness, creativity and endless dedication of its own people. A Japanese love story for the world.

— Sybilla
Director, PLASTIC LOVE!