Saving deer in Nara Park - to develop "edible" paper bags as an alternative to vinyl bags

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

奈良公園の鹿救え、「食べられる」紙袋開発　ビニール袋の代替に

2020.10.24 Sat posted at 14:30 JST

 （ＣＮＮ） 日本の観光名所、奈良に拠点を置く１人の起業家が、従来のビニール製のものに代わる手提げ用の袋を開発した。奈良公園に生息する鹿を救うための取り組みだ。

 土産物の卸売業を手掛ける「ならイズム」の松川英朗氏はＣＮＮの取材に答え、昨年、奈良公園の鹿がビニール袋を食べて相次ぎ死んでいるという話を聞いたと話す。奈良のシンボルであるシカを守るため、何かしたかったという。

 奈良公園には天然記念物に指定された鹿が１０００頭ほど生息しており、訪れる多くの観光客からえさをもらっている。これらの鹿については神の使いとする言い伝えも残る。

 しかし昨年７月、地元の愛護団体が死んだ鹿９頭の胃の中からビニール袋が見つかったと報告。入園者らに対し、ビニール袋を捨てないよう呼び掛けていた。

 そうした呼びかけとは別の方法で問題を解決したいと考えた松川氏は、地元の紙器製造会社、デザイン会社と協力。米ぬかと、牛乳パック由来の再生パルプを使った紙を開発し「鹿紙（しかがみ）」と名付けた。

 松川氏によれば精米時にほとんど捨てられるとされる米ぬかの利用は、廃棄物の削減にも寄与するものだという。

 鹿紙を検査したところ、鹿にとって害がないことを示すデータはないものの、人間が食べても害はないとの結果が出たと、松川氏は笑みを浮かべて話した。

 鹿紙はその後、地元の銀行と東大寺が４０００～５０００枚を１枚１００円で買い取り、試験的に使用している。使用する企業が増えれば価格は下がる見通しで、松川氏はいずれ街中のビニール袋にとって代わる存在になってほしいと期待を寄せる。

 ビニール袋を食べて死ぬ鹿が相次ぐというニュースは痛ましいものだったが、鹿紙でそうした事態を防ぐことができれば、鹿を名物とする奈良のブランドイメージも守られると、松川氏は語った。

Translation

(CNN) An entrepreneur based in Nara, a Japanese tourist attraction, has developed a carrying bag to replace the traditional vinyl ones. This was an effort to save the deer that were living in Nara Park.

Hideo Matsukawa of “Naraism”, a wholesaler of souvenirs, told CNN that last year he heard that deer in Nara Park were dying one after another after eating plastic bags. He wanted to do something to protect the deer, which was a symbol of Nara.

About 1000 deer, which were designated as natural species, lived in Nara Park and were fed by many tourists. There was also a legend that these deer were messengers of God.

However, in July last year, a local welfare organization reported that plastic bags were found in the stomach of nine dead deer.  The visitors were called upon not to throw away their plastic bags.

Mr. Matsukawa, who wanted to solve the problem in a way different from just making calls passively, cooperated with a local paper container manufacturing and designing company. They developed a paper using rice bran together with recycled pulp derived from milk cartons and named it "Deer paper (Shikagami)".

According to Mr. Matsukawa, in using rice bran, which was said to be mostly discarded during rice milling, would also contribute to the reduction of waste.

Mr. Matsukawa smiled and said that when he inspected the deer paper, there was no data showing that it was harmless to the deer, but the result was that it was harmless for humans to eat.

After that, a local bank together with Todaiji Temple bought 4,000-5,000 sheets of deer paper for 100 yen each and used them on a trial basis. Prices were expected to fall as more companies used it. Mr. Matsukawa hoped that it would eventually replace plastic bags in the city.

The news that deer died after eating plastic bags was painful, but if deer paper could prevent such a situation, Nara's brand image which was famous for the deer could be protected, said Matsukawa.

              It is nice to hear that an entrepreneur based in Nara has developed some environmentally friendly carrying bags that are made from recycle material so as to replace the traditional ones. Good job.