Japan will update its Containers and Packaging Recycling Law, the Ministry of Economy and Industry said on evening Wednesday.

The ministry drafted new basic policies setting the direction for recycling of molded glass bottles used for beverages and beer. Under new law, those bottles will be washed and sterilized for reuse, instead to be melted and recycled for architectures and glass products.

The existing law requires beverage manufacturers to pay a recycling fee to local governments in line with the amount of glass bottles they have made. When manufacturers collect and reuse 90 percent of their output glass bottles, local governments bear the remaining 10 percent of the costs.

Japan