Newly developed bamboo paper cups and a container made of the same material are seen in the city of Kagoshima on Dec. 27, 2021. (Mainichi/Keisuke Muneoka)

       KAGOSHIMA -- A printing industry cooperative based in the southwestern Japan city of Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, has developed paper cups made from local bamboo in a bid to reduce plastic waste.

       Cooperative Unicolor aims to reduce abandoned bamboo forests in the country and to reduce plastic waste, which is a global problem. This is apparently the first time in Japan to commercialize cups using domestic bamboo, and they are expected to go on sale as early as January 2022.

       Bamboo forests are expanding nationally. According to the Forestry Agency, the total area of such forests in Japan was some 167,000 hectares in 2017, an increase of about 5,000 hectares from five years earlier. Kagoshima Prefecture has the largest bamboo forests among the country's 47 prefectures at about 18,000 hectares. Bamboo trees are used to make various daily commodities such as baskets, but untended, run-down bamboo forests are expanding for reasons including the popularization of plastic products and the aging of bamboo good producers.

       To enhance bamboo consumption, Unicolor has been developing notepads and other items using bamboo paper produced at Chuetsu Pulp & Paper Co.'s Sendai factory in the Kagoshima Prefecture city of Satsumasendai since 2009. Amid growing interest about marine plastic pollution worldwide, the cooperative commercialized drinking straws made of bamboo paper in 2020.

       Using a subsidy from the Kagoshima Prefectural Government, Unicolor has commercialized bamboo paper cups in cooperation with a manufacturer in Shizuoka Prefecture. They apparently have a stronger resistance to water compared to conventional paper cups. The bamboo paper cups are scheduled to go on sale as early as January 2022 in units of 10 cups -- each measuring 8 centimeters in diameter and 10 centimeters in height -- in a container made of bamboo paper. The price is yet to be determined at this point.

       Unicolor director Masakatsu Iwashige, 61, said with high expectations, "We'd like this to lead to the elimination of plastic, while taking care of community-based forests."

       (Japanese original by Keisuke Muneoka, Kagoshima Bureau)

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