A Japanese company has found a way to turn unwanted rice into plastic (塑料的) things.
One company is working with farmers in the town of Namie. Nearby is the Fukushima nuclear (原子核)center, closed since a nuclear accident there in March 2011.
Jinichi Abe is a local rice farmer. He says people do not want to buy his rice because they worry it is radioactive (有辐射的). Now, he has a new way to sell his rice. Biomass Resin, a company from Tokyo, opened a factory in Namie in November. It turns the rice there into all kinds of things, like plastic tools and shopping bags. "Without growing rice, this town can't get back or its feet," the 85-year-old Abe said. Since the accident, he has tried selling rice as animal feed. "Even now, we can't sell it as Fukushima rice," Abe said. "So having Biomass come was a huge help. "
The government ordered people in the area to leave when the nuclear accident happened and then allowed some people to return to their lives in Namie after a big cleanup in 2017. Now about 80 percent of the town's land still has no plants and only about 2,000 people live there. There were 1,9000 more people in Namie before the accident. Since 2017, eight companies have come back and they created about 200 jobs. But things are still difficult for people in the area.
Takemitsu Imazu is the head of Biomass Resin. He says, "By building our factory here, we want to bring jobs and invite people back. " Imazu also introduces the plastic things made from rice are not biodegradable (可降解的), meaning they cannot be broken down into other things through natural processes (过程). However, mixing rice and plastic cuts down on the carbon (碳)needed during the making process, he added.
In addition, nuclear experts say rice naturally takes in few radioactive things.
