South Australian law on single-use plastic packaging coming into force on 1 September will ban polyethylene containers known as shoyu-tai in Japan

The device known as shoyu-tai (or soy-sauce snapper in Japanese) was invented in 1954 by Teruo Watanabe, the founder of Osaka-based company Asahi Sogyo, according to a report from Japan’s Radio Kansai.

It was then common for glass and ceramic containers to be used but the advent of cheap industrial plastics allowed the creation of a small polyethylene container in the shape of a fish, officially named the “Lunch Charm”.

The invention quickly spread around Japan and eventually worldwide, and it is estimated that billions have been produced.

  • elucubra@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    6 hours ago

    If it breaks down into tiny pieces its not biodegradable. The definition of biodegradable is that its chemically “processed by nature”.

    BTW, biodegradable does not necessarily mean innocuous. A lot of “natural” elements and compounds are toxic. Something may be biodegraded, and leave mercury as one of the resulting elements, for example.