Abstract
In Japan, interest in the realization of carbon neutrality (CN) and the transition to a circular economy (CE) is growing. In order to gain insight into the potential contribution of CE to CN, we conducted a study on the future of recycling in 2050, using plastics as the subject matter. In this research, we set up a future vision based on the accumulation of the effects of measures to be implemented by 2050 according to the announcements of various organizations. After that, we organized the material flow and calculated the CO2 emissions in the manufacturing and recycling stages in the future vision.
As a result, it was found that it is difficult to realize CN in the future vision in which the existing measures are accumulated, and it was suggested that additional measures are necessary. In this research, we set three examples of measures from the perspective of resource recycling: common design, increased use of recycled plastics, and increased production of domestically produced biomass plastics. However, even with additional measures, CN has not yet been realized. It was suggested that more ambitious resource recycling measures must be developed.
