Prior to the panel discussion scheduled for the next session, this presentation outlines the knowledge required to follow it: what bioplastics are, and why they should be used. This session alone is designed to provide a compact yet essential understanding of the fundamentals of bioplastics. The field experience of companies actually putting these materials into practical use is left to the panel discussion that follows.

A few years ago, the bioplastics boom was doused with cold water by three factors: COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and exchange rates. In truth, Japan is the only market where this field has cooled; across the rest of the world, neighboring countries included, substitution with bioplastics has continued to advance steadily. By contrast, Japan alone has been left behind — the little-known reality, stated here without exaggeration. Since the Strait of Hormuz crisis flared up, moves to reconsider these materials have become visible in Japan as well, yet actual cases of substitution remain few. By contrast, neighboring countries are moving to switch over all at once. The circumstances behind this will be discussed in the main session. This session will present the voices of the companies and their practitioners who have been striving with unwavering dedication to put bioplastics into practical use, and aims to point to the path that businesses and consumers in this country should take.