Professor Sasaki of Faculty of Economics Gives Lecture at Signing Ceremony of JICA-JST SATREPS Project’s Research Collaboration with Industry and Academia -

The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has been held to formulate a multilateral agreement on reducing plastic litter as plastic pollution is a serious environmental problem on a global scale. ^*1 Plastic pollution is said to be caused by improper collection and disposal of waste. It is urgent to structure appropriate procedures for collecting, sorting, and recycling plastic in emerging and developing countries. ^*2

Amid such circumstances, the JICA-JST SATREPS Project “Formation of a Center of Excellence for Marine Plastic Pollution Studies in the Southeast Asian Seas” (Principal Investigator: Professor ISOBE Atsuhiko of Kyushu University) which Professor SASAKI So of the Faculty of Economics participates, will conduct a social investigation to reveal people’s change in behavior of waste sorting. ^*3
This investigation demonstrates industry-academia research in coordination with an on-site purchasing service company for recyclable resources, WATEBUY DELIVERY Co., Ltd.^*4 which was founded last year by Wongpanit, the leading recycling company in Thailand. The signing ceremony of MOU was held on November 25th, 2024, with Senator Vichit Yahip in attendance.

Upon signing, Professor Sasaki gave a lecture emphasizing the importance of ending the “chicken-or-the-egg” argument between the government, which poses questions on low environmental awareness among citizens and such being a reason for the stagnation of waste sorting, and civilians that find no reason for waste sorting as the government collect garbage all at once. Therefore, Professor Sasaki explained the purpose and significance of compiling data on the citizen’s behavior change in waste sorting through the questionnaire investigation on LITTERBUY DELIVERY’s customers and non-customers.

Future social investigations will compare sorting behavior among communities besides private sector-led efforts such as this investigation, and seek factors that encourage proper litter maintenance. Furthermore, considering the results of other investigations from SATREPS, Professor Sasaki will propose measures and efforts to reduce plastic pollution. ^*5

^※１ https://www.unep.org/inc-plastic-pollution
^※２ https://www.oecd.org/en/about/news/press-releases/2022/06/global-plastic-waste-set-to-almost-triple-by-2060.html
^※3 https://www.jst.go.jp/global/english/kadai/r0101_thailand.html
^※4 https://www.xn--22ca9gb4ei.com/
^※5 https://www.jica.go.jp/oda/project/1900843/news/1554067_45088.html　(Japanese only)