I'd be really happy to see this change. Waste is best not created in the first place. I noticed combini onsen tamago moved from plastic to paper packaging at the Big 3 chains and probably a lot of other small touches which I haven't noticed.

I hope the status-quo is turning and sentiment goes towards being better about reducing and reusing vs consuming and recycling. I've found the sentiment "It is ok! to consume convenient disposables because Japan recycles so well!" to be prevalent. As if people are taught this "fact" and never bothered to wonder if recycling is really a closed system with 100% recapture which doesn't require energy/resources? Japan doesn't even recycle all that well currently in global rankings (which I admit are probably politically influenced or statistical slices) https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/...cycling-rates/ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/20...recycle-waste/ but surely a good bit of that (beautifully excessive) packaging, even the "compostable plastics" could be reduced. It is perplexing how many soft sided pouch refills there are for things like toiletries and laundry products jives with cheap snacks being individually triple packaged in tiny amounts. Or how bulk bins and takeout prepped food by weight in compostable containers aren't really a thing. Retailer savings and appealing consumer packaging has a lot to answer for.