General Incorporated Association
Japan Soft Drink Association

（JSDA）

Japan Soft Drink Association
Chairman Hideki Horiguchi

Japan Soft Drink Association (“JSDA”) is composed of members who are manufacturers of soft drink beverages and also supporting members from related industries. JSDA is association for the soft drink industry with over 100 years of history dating back to our predecessor body, the National Soft Drink Trade Organization.
The total consumption of soft drinks in Japan is the equivalent of every Japanese person, including all children and adults, drinking the contents of one 500 ml PET bottle every day. The manufacturer’s sales value in total, for the first time, exceeded 4 trillion yen last year.
The scale of the soft drink industry is one of the largest among the food processed sector in Japan and we are committed to fulfilling our responsibilities within the food industry.
Japan’s highly diversified soft drink portfolio is second to none in the world. Some examples of its diversity are; “personal-preference-driven products,” represented by coffee, green-tea and barley-tea as well as “health-conscious products,” such as non-sugared-tea and low-sugar products, and “Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU)” certified beverages.
Continuous progress and evolution of availability for our consumers has always been one of our top priorities. Expansion of vending machines in the market is a good example of our efforts in this area. As a result of our efforts to provide easy access to a wide range of products anytime, anywhere, consumers regard soft drinks as an indispensable part of their everyday life.
JSDA’s efforts also focus strongly toward sustainability. In accordance with the “Japanese Containers and Packaging Recycling Act,” the industry is aggressively driving the “3R (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle)” initiative as the responsible body of beverage manufacturing business,
In particular, PET products that account for over 70% of total production volume of soft drinks should be central focus of our sustainability efforts, and its recycling rate and collection rate have already reached 84.8% and 92.2% respectively. Although we are proud of these figures, the effort needs to further evolve in the context of tackling the marine plastic issue on a global scale. From this point of view, JSDA has announced “Plastic Resource Reclamation Declaration of the Soft Drink Industry” in November 2018.
The principle of the declaration is “Waste if mixed, but resource if properly sorted.” Based on this principle, the industry is working together with our customers, national government, local governments and industry groups to build a Resource Recycling Society. Our target is to achieve 100% effective usage of PET bottles by FY2030.
We are keen to accumulate significant learnings and know-how gained through these sustainability efforts, including technology, systems, marketing, etc., and become the information hub of such best practices that can be reapplied on a global basis.
The new Reiwa era in Japan began in May, bringing with it a new wind. For the soft drink industry to evolve to the next stage, it is imperative to further move forward on supports the development and prosperity of our society.
The challenge includes creating a mechanism that contribute to increase industry’s social value and introducing new technologies for solving social problems. Besides, applying to globalization and innovating value-added products based on “food safety and security” which is the fundamental value of soft drinks are also issues we face.
It is our commitment to take leadership in addressing these challenges together to contribute to growth of the industry. We look forward to your continuous guidance and encouragement.