Japanese convenience store giant 7-Eleven certainly seems to embrace change. From the recently installed floating hologram registers to a simple tactic for extending the shelf life of onigiri rice balls in an effort to reduce food waste, it seems like the chain is always near the front of the pack when it comes to integrating scientific and environmentally conscious practices into its brand.
According to reports, the latest change that 7-Eleven Japan is making is to alter the packaging of certain foods to reduce its carbon footprint. The new white or semi-transparent containers are made from reduced petroleum-based materials that are easy to recycle and will no longer use ink and other coloring agents which release added CO2 during the manufacturing process. The containers for approximately 60 original 7-Eleven fresh foods such as bento boxes, noodle dishes, and side dishes will be converted as part of the switch.
▼ Left image: Depictions of food containers before and after the change / Right image: A sample of a new semi-transparent container for cold soba noodles
In fact, 7-Eleven began implementing the new containers at 997 stores in Hokkaido in early December. Simply by converting the containers sold on the northern island prefecture alone, officials estimate that 40 tons of CO2 emissions will be cut per year.
Net users were somewhat indifferent to the announcement, with a large subset commenting how they wish the chain would first go about eliminating the false bottoms found on many of their food containers instead. In any case, every little step to be more eco-friendly should be celebrated, including 7-Eleven’s convenience store rival Lawson encouraging its customers to use wooden chopsticks instead of plastic forks.
Source: Impress Watch via Otakomu
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27 Comments
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Ass
Oh is that what that was, I saw some Black and white corn flakes in the store I thought it was a printing error
Tom San
There's only a certain amount that can be done with regards to "lowering" CO2 emissions.
I'll do whatever I feel I can if and when I can.
bass4funk
You have got to be kidding me....
Danielsan
Every little bit helps, kudos to 7 & I holdings for making this move. Now, eliminate plastic straws and stop providing plastic shopping bags. Let customers learn to carry and use reusable bags.
Mark
Great, but then how will they hide Flaws in certain foods, some packers use colored packaging so they can hide broken potato chips, crackers, sembe and so on.,
GBR48
This is good stuff. It doesn't impact on anyone and it scales to a meaningful benefit. This can be done by most companies for most products and is generally beneficial.
Quote: stop providing plastic shopping bags
These are almost universally re-used as bin bags. If they were not supplied, people would just have to buy bin bags instead, so there would be no net saving. Just ask people if they need one and reduce the number to the minimum.
Yubaru
They already do, but 3 or 5 yen for the bag is no big deal to someone using a convenience store. Convenience stores are already higher priced than supermarkets, and anyone who uses one is typically not going to complain about paying extra for a bag.
They already do this. Depending upon the number of items and type of items purchased the cashier will ask if you want a bag or not. Also many customers will ask ahead of time, if they need one.
People have gotten used to this, and not just for "food" places either. Places like pharmacies charge for plastic bags when picking up prescription meds too! Damn near everywhere does now.
Yubaru
It is not mandatory to charge customers for bags. Other than that, I dont get the point you are making. Damn near everyone who has been here for any amount of time already knows this.
Tom San
My local supermarket gives out plastic grocery bags for free.
It's my favorite store, of course.
Antiquesaving
I was a single father with 2 children, I often got home past the end of after-school care.
Things were a mess the first few years.
We had a Popular convenience store near our place.
In a pinch I could run in with my own container and buy cooked rice by weight.
This was used by may single elderly and students especially because we also got a ¥5 or ¥ 10 ( small and large) discount for not needing a styrofoam container.
With scales, and tare any container is fine, saved on garbage, save the store money saves the environment.
This was common for many years in my parents day and even in my childhood.
Time to bring it back for most cooked food items.
Now I did see a Mini stop with self service Bento box if you brought your own container they discounted ¥5.
Pick and choose what you want pay per item.
wallace
GBR48
In Japan, most local authorities require you to buy plastic garbage bags for their collection. Usually about ¥10 each.
wallace
All plastic waste can be made into bricks for construction.
Antiquesaving
Nope.
Not my present ward not my part ward, not my brother in law in Kanagawa not my mother in law in Saitama.
Not my wife's family in Niigata, not my children's family members in Shizuoka.
Actually I only know a few nosy places that require it.
But even then the plastic bags are used in the house a east basket liners then put into a larger garbage bag.
Not here is a fact that was in a previous JT article.
Sales of small plastic bag have gone up.
So people are buying plastic bag to use in waste baskets and kitchen garbage, then as before putting the lot in a large garbage bag.
One reason is transparent garbage bags a body neighbours.
Tom San
I use grocery plastic bags to pick up after my dog when he does his business.
wallace
Antiquesaving
The last three authorities we lived in require the use of their bags for garbage collection.
What ya do a quick phone around of your family to check on their garbage bags?
"Many municipalities require trash to be placed in specified garbage bags for collection. These can be bought at supermarkets, convenience stores, and many other outlets, and come in different sizes and separate colors indicating the type of trash that goes in each of them."
the article even has a photo of bags for sale in the stores.
https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h10031/
Why would the places using authority garbage bags be nosey?
But Tokyo's 23 wards don't use them. So I guess you don't really know.
wallace
Our city does not burn rubbish in open pits, Should get out more.
The city I previously lived in is the second largest in Kansai.
Hyogo is the 7th largest prefecture population.
We have more streetlights than Blackpool.
How nice of you to have so much time twice a week you can hop along to the many prefectures to take their garbage out. Only last week you posted about having to move your relatives to Tokyo because you had no time to travel to take care of them.
As a I posted in an informed link
Many municipalities require trash to be placed in specified garbage bags for collection. These can be bought at supermarkets, convenience stores, and many other outlets, and come in different sizes and separate colors indicating the type of trash that goes in each of them."
Antiquesaving
No argument on that.
You said
which is clearly false!
wallace
Antiquesaving
A wise man would check the amount of pollution created by Tokyo before comparing it with other places. Tokyo generates the most pollution of all the cities in the country.
https://aqicn.org/map/japan/
wallace
Antiquesaving
yes I said most or many. You don't have a ballpark figure either.
Jtsnose
Good for 7-Eleven, taking the lead in reducing CO2 emissions . . . .
garypen
Not in either of the municipalities where I have homes. They only require that the bags people use meet certain requirements, such as size and transparency.
"Most" and "many" have two very different meanings. "Many", in this instance, would have been the correct word to use, and not have instigated the disagreement. But, your original comment said "most", which is probably not accurate, and triggered the initial response.
It's ok to admit to being wrong on occasion. Especially since you are usually correct, and the person you are arguing with is usually wrong. They're just correct on this occasion, and you were wrong. It happens.
garypen
Why not just use the actual large bag in the kitchen? That's what I do.
WTH are you trying to say here? I assume it's a typo. Wouldn't an edit function in the JT comment sections be a beautiful thing? It would help avoid a lot of embarrassment. I know I've had a few.
garypen
The lack of ink may help. But, it's just a drop in the ocean compared to the environmental impact of the tremendous amount of plastic waste produced by 7-Eleven and other conbinis in Japan.
painkiller
In fact, 7-Eleven began implementing the new containers at 997 stores in Hokkaido in early December. Simply by converting the containers sold on the northern island prefecture alone, officials estimate that 40 tons of CO2 emissions will be cut per year.
Why only Hokkaido? We want clean air everywhere.
AntiquesavingDec. 27 02:03 pm JST
Correct. This is the reality in Japan.