Award Ceremony Held for the 'Waste Reduction Business Idea Contest'

The award ceremony for the 'Waste Reduction Business Idea Contest,' organized by the general incorporated association Gomi Project (Representative Director: Shuichi Takizawa), was held on May 3, 2026 (a Sunday holiday), known as 'Waste Day' in Japan.

Nihon Yamamura Glass Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Hyogo Prefecture; President and Representative Director: Noboru Yamamura; hereinafter 'the Company') is committed to environmental initiatives with a desire to 'contribute to the realization of a circular society.' The Company participated as a gold sponsor because this contest, which encourages thinking about 'waste'—a familiar issue to everyone—and supporting challenges to address social problems, shares common ground with the Company’s activities.

In this contest, 13 outstanding works were selected from 97 total applications and awarded. The Company participated in the judging process as a gold sponsor and, while exploring diverse ideas, presented the 'Nihon Yamamura Glass Award' to student entrepreneur Rintaro Matsunaga for his idea, 'Next-Generation Vending Machine: From "Buying Drinks" to "Refilling."

This idea proposes a mechanism in which a vending machine automatically cleans a water bottle and then refills it. This mechanism solves the problem of water bottles not being utilized due to the inconvenience of refilling or washing, which consequently leads to the continued consumption of disposable PET bottles. The Company manufactures and sells glass bottles, and in addition to being recyclable, glass bottles—such as 1.8-liter sake bottles, beer bottles, and milk bottles—have the feature of being reusable after cleaning. The Company selected this idea as it shares similarities with the characteristics of glass bottles and is believed to have the potential to contribute to solving waste problems.

The Company gained the opportunity to come into contact with many innovative ideas regarding waste reduction through sponsoring this contest and participating in the judging of ideas. Going forward, the Company will continue to advance initiatives for resource circulation and environmental issues while collaborating with various stakeholders.