In the world each country's regulations and labels provide glimpses not only of safety but also of establishing strategic trade barriers for each country's products. This report shows the current status of flame retardant regulations, countermeasures and the future of flame retardant materials.

For specifications and standards for food utensils, containers and packaging (UCP), Japan has adopted the negative list system that basically permits use of all substances and designates the substances whose use should be restricted. In June 2020, Japan introduces the positive list (PL) system for synthetic resin, which basically prohibits use of all substances except the ones evaluated as safe to enhance food safety and ensure global consistency of regulations. To check whether products are manufactured conforming to the PL system and to confirm the compatibility through supply chains, Japan also develops production management and information sharing systems for business operators. Taking into account requests from business operators and discussions at committee for reviewing the system, Japan considers setting a deferment period. During the period, business operators have to prove that products using substances that are not listed yet or are under consideration of the specifications in the PL are the same as the products marketed at the point of the effective date of the PL system.

Due to their excellent properties as industrial materials such as inexpensive and tough, plastics and rubber have been mass-produced with the rise of the petrochemical industry since the middle of the 20th century. In particular, the invention of plastic containers has enabled food to be easily stored at room temperature, and processed foods mass-produced in factories have changed our lifestyle significantly. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that a part of the plastics and rubber discarded in large quantities may leak into the environment and seriously affecting ecosystems and human health. Many technologies of mechanical recycling or feedstock recycling for plastic and rubber have been proposed. However, approximately 60% of waste plastics and waste rubber have been treated by energy recovery using combustion still now, because plastics unlike metals easily lose the advantage of mechanical recycling by physical or chemical deterioration or by contamination of impurity. The realization of a sustainable society based on resource recycling from global environmental conservation have been required. In this paper, the present status of recycle industry of waste plastic were described, the latest research regarding to microplastics was introduced, and future tasks of recycle industry were discussed.

The Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL) in Japan was enacted in 1973 to prevent environmental pollution by chemical substances. Since then, the CSCL has played an important role in managing many chemical substances developed and used in Japan. The CSCL requires various hazard information of new chemical substances (in other words, results of safety tests) before manufacturing or importing them. This review article describes the purpose, background and system of the CSCL, and the safety test methods to apply for new chemical substances.

The high economic growth of the 20th century has led to three big problems, exhaustion of oil reserves, increases in greenhouse gas emission, and solid waste management, in consequence of the mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal of conventional synthetic polymer products made from oil as their feedstock source.

The current crisis in solid waste management like the ocean contamination by plastics has focused attention on the development of biodegradable /compostable materials in natural environment, in soil, in sea water or in compost. This article will discuss the high-performance technologies of biodegradable plastics, particularly focusing on poly (lactic acid)(PLA) made from renewable resources.