Today, on August 19th, 2021, Greenbird, a Japanese non-profit organization that conducts litter collection activities in Japanese towns and oceans around Japan, launched RePLAMO, plastic model kits recycled from marine plastic litter. At the same time, the organization opened a special website for online sales and announced a beach cleanup event where participants can experience making RePLAMO themselves.

Background

In recent years, Japan has made progress when it comes to reducing plastic waste, with more establishments making efforts to discourage single-use plastics, get rid of plastic straws, and charge for plastic shopping bags. Nevertheless, the 8 million tons of plastic waste that flow into the ocean every year still has a tremendous impact on the global environment and its ecosystems. For the past 19 years, Greenbird has been trying to address this problem through its litter collection activities. Now, with the collaboration of several partner companies, they've launched a new marine litter recycling project called "RePLAMO."

First round: Sea Turtle

The first of the plastic models in the RePLAMO project is a sea turtle. Many sea turtles needlessly suffer because of plastic litter discarded by humans. Half of the incidents involving sea turtles and plastic litter are cases in which they mistakenly take it for food. But now, in a sign of recognition, and with the hope that it will help more humans think about the plight of sea turtles and other marine animals, RePLAMO has taken this plastic litter and upcycled it into a sea turtle toy.

The source material used to make RePLAMO plastic models is plastic litter collected from towns and oceans around Japan. The litter is thoroughly washed and cleaned, then crushed, molded, and processed by hand. The color and pattern of each item vary depending on the type of litter picked up at the time.

In addition, Greenbird will be holding beach cleanup events for children in seven locations across Japan, starting with Fukiage beach in Kagoshima Prefecture on September 11th. The events allow children to follow the creation of a RePLAMO toy from start to finish, while learning about marine litter and its impact on the environment in the process.

To purchase a RePLAMO toy or participate in a cleanup and RePLAMO making event, see their website here.

The "RePLAMO" project is made possible with the collaboration of partner companies RABBIT, CHERRY, and Final Aim who are active in the field of communication. Moreover, for this first round of making a sea turtle toy, Greenbird was sponsored by Web Shark Inc., which sells the popular Yogibo sofa. They are currently looking for companies and organizations to join them on a second project.