Fact: Plastics are essentially long hydro-carbon chains.

IMO, that means oil will be a component in making plastics, since you don’t need to crack your head on how to synthesize long hydro-carbon chains out of hydrogen and pieces of carbon. Thus, by reducing the use of plastics we are also taking some pressure off the demand in oil. Also, the production of plastics sometimes result in the emission of hydrochloric gases, which is harmful to human beings. I know of someone who ran to the toilet to puke when it got too bad. (IIRC, when I worked in First Engineering a long time ago, a Japanese customer insisted that meeting the ISO standards in the emission of harmful substances during production is a pre-requisite before they sign the production contract.) So, to reduce the use of plastics as a environmentally friendly measure, is really a no brainer.

But as I said before, the measures taken by this country to reduce the use of plastics is insufficient and ineffective. If this gahmen even cares at all, by now legislation that styro-foam lunch boxes and plastic containers for soup will be banned in 6 months and converted to the use of cardboard / hard paper containers will already be passed. Taiwan did that several years ago! (And preferably, a plastic ‘tax’ should be imposed on the environmentally unconscious.)

While this is a hard decision to make, let me point out the Tokugawa Shoguns make the hard decision on protecting their environment when faced with massive deforestation in Japan in the 1600s. And one of the decisions they made was to ensure that the existing trees are protected, and anyone who disobey the order will lose their heads. Today, Japan is the greenest and most forested First World country compared to Easter Island, which is almost completely barren.

But of course, I suspect once there are plans to squeeze more money out of the people from this… this money-faced gahmen will implement the legislation in a jiffy.