TOKYO: Sunshine Aquarium in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward has updated the uniforms of its reception staff and other employees for the first time in nine years.
The uniforms are made entirely from fabric recycled from fishing nets to be discarded, and the aquarium says they are aimed at raising awareness about marine debris.
According to a fiscal 2022 survey by the Environment Ministry, fishing gear accounts for over 40 per cent of the man-made debris that washes up on Japan’s coastlines and estuaries.
Plastic fishing nets, in particular, make up 11 per cent of the total. There are concerns that when fishing nets drift in the ocean, they can entangle marine life or be mistaken for food and ingested by fish, causing harm.
The fishing nets used by Japan’s fishing industry are mostly made of polyester, a type of plastic.
Most of them are incinerated or landfilled without being recycled, making the establishment of recycling methods a major challenge.
Against this backdrop, Sunshine Aquarium decided to create new uniforms made from polyester in collaboration with “Team Re:ism”, a consortium of companies engaged in resource circulation initiatives for used fishing nets.
By utilising “chemical recycling” – a technology to process and refine waste by changing its chemical structure to create new products – the team has successfully recycled plastic fishing nets.
Shuta Sashida of the Okayama city-based Caitac Group, a textile trading company that participates in the consortium and was involved in the new uniforms’ production, said: “Compared with items like plastic bottles, the recycling rate for used fishing nets is low, so we want to help spread awareness about this initiative.”
The design was developed over a period of about eight months and was centred on the themes of “unprecedented”, “eco-friendly”, “functional” and “genderless”.
The team focused on colours and sizes suitable for both men and women, as well as ease of changing into and out of them.
The new uniforms have reportedly been well-received by staff. “We hope the new uniforms will serve as an opportunity for visitors to think about the issue of marine debris,” a Sunshine Aquarium official said. - The Japan News/ANN
