Japanese companies use rice from Fukushima to produce plastic
One of the eight Japanese companies that has begun operations in the abandoned Fukushima area is processing rice there into plastic that experts say contains a low percentage of carbon and that the products obtained from it are safe for human health. These plastic balls are commonly used to make cutlery, which is used by companies all over Japan.
Biomass Resin, a company based in Tokyo, has opened a factory where it turns rice from Fukushima into a special plastic. Although twelve years have passed since the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, no one wants to buy the rice produced there for fear of health risks. That's why a company from Tokyo has come up with a way to turn that rice into plastic, which experts claim contains a low percentage of carbon.
This plastic is used to produce packaging for cutlery and food delivery, plastic bags for mail across the country and souvenirs sold at Japanese airports. The mentioned products are used by companies all over Japan, in order for Fukushima to recover from the catastrophic consequences of the accident, the Kamatica portal reported.
After the nuclear disaster, the area was uninhabitable until 2017, and decontamination efforts produced tons of radioactive soil throughout the city. Even today, 80 percent of the city's land is foreclosed, and the population has dwindled significantly, from 21.000 to less than 2.000 people. Since 2017, eight companies have started operating in this area, creating around 200 jobs.