Web-site survey of recent ecomaterial developments in Japan

One of the gravest environmental problems facing us today is how to manage materials we use and produce as a result of the industrial development in the 20th century. The concept of ecomaterials was proposed with their full life-cycle taken into consideration in 1991 and has widely developed now. There have been many governmental activities for the creation of sustainable society in Japan such as enactments of environmental laws and regulations. Many Japanese enterprises have been also engaged in a lot of activities for environmental protection. Owing to their endeavour, ecomaterials in Japan have been developed and their number has increased yearly. The research was made on how ecomaterials are currently used in Japan. All the information was obtained from the Web-sites 2004 year version environmental reports of the organizations concerned. In this paper, ecomaterials produced by two hundred and sixty six listed companies on the stock market were researched and classified into six categories. About 3900 ecomaterials were found in the 2004 year version environmental reports of 266 companies researched, whereas the number of ecomaterials researched in the year 2001 was only 1898 in 286 companies and in the year 2003 about 3700 in 281 companies. This means the number of ecomaterials in Japan in the year 2003 nearly doubled compared to that of 2001 and increased further in 2004. It also indicates the realization on the part of Japanese companies of the importance of ecomaterials resulting in the advancement of related research activities. Higher materials efficiency products of user friendly, energy saving and high performance type, which are the results of years of engineering research and development are being promoted as newly improved and efficient products. It seems that the time is approaching when it is necessary to consider as a part of environmental problems the limited availability of natural resources and to promote a sustainable society from a broader perspective.