Japanese Company Turns Unused Rice into Plastic Products

Japanese Company Turns Unused Rice into Plastic Products

A Japanese company has found a way to turn unwanted rice into plastic goods.

One company is working with farmers in the coastal¹ town of Namie. Nearby is the Fukushima nuclear center, closed since a nuclear disaster there in March 2011.

Jinichi Abe is a local rice farmer. He says people do not want to buy his rice because they worry it is radioactive². The farmer has been trying for years to recover from the economic effects of the disaster.

Now, he has a new way to sell his rice. Tokyo-based company Biomass Resin³ opened a factory in Namie in November. It turns locally grown rice into pellets for use in manufacturing. The pellets can be formed into all kinds of products, including plastic tools, food containers, shopping bags and souvenirs.

"Without growing rice, this town can't recover," the 85-year-old Abe told Reuters news agency. He said that in the years since the disaster, he has tried selling rice as animal feed, among other things. "Even now, we can't sell it as Fukushima rice," Abe said. "So having Biomass come was a huge help. We can grow rice without worries."

Officials ordered people in the area to flee when the nuclear factory's reactors⁴ exploded and released radiation. The government permitted some people to return to their lives in Namie in 2017 after a major cleanup of the area.

About 80 percent of the town's land remains⁵ off-limits and currently⁶ about 2,000 people live there. About 21,000 people lived in Namie before the accident.

Town official Satoshi Konno admits things are still difficult for people in the area. "We want businesses that will create as many jobs as possible - basically, manufacturing," he said.

Since 2017, eight companies have come back. These include a concrete manufacturing center and an electric vehicle battery recycler. Those companies created about 200 jobs. The town is under discussions with still more companies and research centers that might bring in more people.

Takemitsu Imazu is president of Biomass Resin Fukushima. He told Reuters that even though the area has mostly recovered, the economy is still severely⁷ suffering. "By building our factory here, we want to bring jobs and invite people back."

Imazu says the plastic products created from rice are not biodegradable, meaning they cannot be broken down into other material through natural processes. However, combining rice and plastic cuts down on the amount of carbon needed during production, he added. The company also says growing more rice in Namie reduces overall levels of atmospheric⁸ carbon dioxide.

In addition, nuclear experts say rice naturally takes in little radioactive material.

Biomass Resin now employs 10 people in Namie, including a 20-year-old who returned, and the company hopes to expand. It uses only about 50 tonnes of Namie rice. The rest of the 1,500 tonnes needed is mainly from elsewhere in Fukushima. But the company says it will buy a larger amount from Abe and his cooperative⁹ next year, grown on the freshly cleared fields.

Words in This Story

pellet – n. a small, hard ball of metal, grain or other material

shopping bag – n. a soft container usually made with paper or plastic and used to carry goods from a store

souvenir – n. something people buy and keep to remember a special event or a vacation visit

concrete – n. a hard, strong material that is used for building and made by mixing cement, sand, and broken rocks with water

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 radioactive   

adj.放射性的

参考例句：

• People should keep away from the radioactive waste.人们应远离放射性废物。
• The radioactive material is stored in a special radiation-proof container.放射性材料储存在防辐射的特殊容器里。

3 resin   

n.树脂，松香，树脂制品；vt.涂树脂

参考例句：

• This allyl type resin is a highly transparent, colourless material.这种烯丙基型的树脂是一种高度透明的、无色材料。
• This is referred to as a thixotropic property of the resin.这种特性叫做树脂的触变性。

4 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

9 cooperative   

adj.有合作意向的，合作的；n.合作社（企业）等

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• We decided to set up a cooperative.我们决定开办一家合作社。