Newspapers occupy a big class of the waste hierarchy. If you have always wondered what to do with a big stack of these dailies at the end of the month, you know what we mean. While they can be reused and recycled in many different manners, Japan has come up with a genius and an eco-friendly idea to give to the environment while also recycling an eco-friendly newspaper.
The “Green Newspaper”, which is one of the largest circulating periodicals of Japan, is entirely made up of recycled and vegetable paper which can easily be used in composting. The best part about the newspapers, however, is that they have seeds of flowering plants, such as daisies, poppies or roses, embedded in them.
This means that once you are done with the newspaper, you can tear it up into small pieces, put those pieces in soil, water it, and Voila! The seeds will sprout into new plants and bloom with time.
The idea was conceived by Japan’s popular advertising agency Dentsu Inc. It was invented by the publishers of the famous Japanese daily, Mainichi Shimbun. The ‘Green Newspaper’ was first published for Greenery Day, that is, May 4th, 2016, and had a countrywide circulation of 4.6 million newspapers. This edition featured environmental articles and information about the newspaper itself. It became a huge hit among the Japqnese. The publisher has been attempting to involve schools to try and get more children to participate, and learn about recycling.
The motto of the Mainichi Mbun, the Green newspaper is to not take action only through information, but also by solving global issues.
Dentsu Inc. has been collaborating continually with environmental campaigns. With the help of the government, it planted over 330,000 trees in 2006. The agency has also volunteered to plant trees along the coastline to battle coastal flooding or Tsunami waves. The Green Newspaper is a part of one such campaign called Mottainai, which translates to ‘lesser waste’.
With oer 4.6 million copies circulating eveeyday, the ‘Green Newspaper’ has now generated over 80 million yen, which is equivalent to $700,000 for its publishers.
Dentsu Inc. has been impactful over the netizens ever since the newspaper’s release, the users loving this novel idea and supporting it wholeheartedly for a greener and happier planet.
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