Shonan Eco Project

Shonan Trading Co., Ltd has been importing inflation (film) equipment and plastic recycling machinery from Europe and has sold them to Japanese companies since 1997.

For local society in Yokohama, Shonan Trading spreads correct knowledge about recycling and raises people’s environmental awareness by utilizing its recycling-related network and information on plastic resources.

Its principal activity is “Shonan Eco Project,” which allows citizens to experience the entire plastic recycling process with their hands. In this project, plastic bottle caps collected by Shonan Trading itself and Yokohama citizens are recycled into another product. How do they do it?

First, the participants place some plastic bottle caps into a bicycle-shaped crusher and crush them into small pieces by pedaling. Next, the plastic chips are put into a ” manual injection machine.” After the plastic melts and softens at approximately 250℃, they pour it into a mold. A new product then ready!

There are various molds, including buttons for clothes, rulers, flower pots, and golf markers. The color of products also varies according to the colors of the plastic bottle caps. A wide variety of recycled products can be created by combining molds and colors.

Furthermore, the manual injection machine can process not only crushed plastic bottle caps but also, for example, polyester clothing into new products with heat. Thus, there are high expectations for the potential of the Manual Injection machine to create many kinds of recycled products from a wide range of plastic materials.

The history of plastics is only about 100 years. As a material created after the Industrial Revolution, it has developed along with mass-production and mass-consumption society. However, consumers are unfamiliar with how plastic products are manufactured, processed, or disposed of after use.

Even so, recycling plastics is only possible when consumers understand the importance of sorting them out and doing it on a daily basis. Shonan Trading is spreading correct knowledge and understanding of plastic resources to consumers so that everyone can be positively engaged in recycling activities.

1. Promote comprehensive and efficient plastic recycling

Shonan Trading provides a sharing (rental) service for companies and organizations that have difficulty purchasing equipment right now. The business model based on the sharing economy, as known as “PaaS (product as a service),” is considered one of the strategies of the circular economy. This model makes it easy to introduce the circular economy in a low-budget business.

2. Physical experience enhances emotional value

This project is just one of the many ways of recycling, but creating products with own hands adds a story to it and helps increase the emotional value of plastic resources. In fact, children who experienced the whole process not only take good care of their handmade recycled products but also share their experiences with friends and family as memories. It is a win-win situation where children deepen their awareness of environmental issues and those who listen to them deepen their knowledge and understanding of plastics-related problems.

3. Circulate plastics locally and lower environmental impact

It is essential to make a small circle of things in order to recycle resources more environmentally friendly. Although many plastic products, including plastic bottles, generally go through extended distribution, Shonan Eco Project attempts to recycle and reuse consumed plastic within the local community.