As Japan goes through an enormous amount of umbrellas each year, companies are finding ways to reuse them or rent them out.
An estimate by the Japan Umbrella Promotion Association says that about 120 million to 130 million umbrellas are purchased each year in the country.
Vinyl umbrellas account for a large part of them, though no figure is available for the precise ratio.
In May of last year, Weathernews Inc., a provider of meteorological information, showed that 4.2 people in Japan possessed 4.2 umbrellas per person, on average.
Nara Prefecture was the national leader at 5.6 umbrellas per person, followed by Kanagawa Prefecture at 5.0, Tokyo at 4.9 and Osaka Prefecture at 4.8. The survey showed that people tend to have more umbrellas in and around urbanized areas of the Kanto and Kansai regions.
There are fewer steps in the countryside than in urban areas, where they move around more often by means of public transportation than in private cars, according to separate statistics.
The results seem to show a typical scene of urban consumer behavior: people caught in a sudden downpour are apt to buy a cheap umbrella at a convenience store.
These realities have inspired umbrella-sharing services, which are expanding their operations mostly in urban areas.
I-Kasa, a provider of spare umbrellas, has placed spare umbrellas at about 1,200 depots at train stations and other major facilities across 14 prefectures in Japan. The umbrellas can be rented via a smartphone app for only 110 yen 80 cents per 24 hours.
We initially emphasized convenience, but our services have come to be approved from the viewpoints of sustainability and the U.N. An official with the Nature Innovation Group, the Tokyo-based operator of i-Kasa, said the Sustainable Development Goals were the result of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The umbrellas have a return rate of 99.5 percent, according to the official.
Different municipalities have different garbage separation policies when it comes to umbrellas. It is difficult to recycle umbrellas because they have metal frames.
Ca Et La, a Tokyo-based umbrella manufacturer, has come up with TIC Plus-tic, an umbrella made entirely of plastic.
The product, being flexible, does not snap easily in a rainstorm. It does not succumb to rust and can be discarded as plastic waste.
The TIC comes with a replaceable umbrella fabric, so it can be used for a long time.
Fashion brands have created bags and other products that have been upcycled from broken vinyl umbrellas.
Aki Saito founded the brand Plasticity three years ago.
Plasticity uses materials made by pressing together many layers of vinyl umbrella fabrics, which are waterproof and stain-resistant, to improve their strength. The vinyl parts of umbrellas are being collected from the public.
The brand has repurposed about 30,000 vinyl umbrellas, using them for tote bags and other products.
Plasticity bills itself as a brand that should no longer be around in 10 years because of the raw materials it uses for its products should become unavailable when there are no more wasted vinyl umbrellas.
Saito said that making bags does not eliminate wasted umbrellas, but he thinks things could change by using the power of people who sympathize with our products and concept.