Photo/Illutration A photo image of the i-Kasa umbrella-sharing services (Provided by Nature Innovation Group)

Companies are finding ways to reuse umbrellas or rent them out as Japan goes through an alarming amount of them each year.

About 120 million to 130 million umbrellas, roughly the population of Japan, are purchased every year in the country, according to an estimate by the Japan Umbrella Promotion Association.

Vinyl umbrellas presumably account for a large part of them, though no figure is available for the precise ratio.

A survey conducted in May last year by Weathernews Inc., a provider of meteorological information, showed that 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 people tend to have more umbrellas in and around urbanized areas of the Kanto and Kansai regions.

Separate statistics have shown that people walk fewer steps in the countryside than in urban areas, where they move around more often by means of public transportation than in private cars.

Combined, the results appear 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 provided the inspiration for umbrella-sharing services, which are expanding their operations mostly in urban areas.

I-Kasa, a provider of such services, has placed spare umbrellas at about 1,200 depots at train stations and other major facilities across 14 prefectures in Japan. “Kasa” is Japanese for umbrella.

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. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said an official with Nature Innovation Group, the Tokyo-based operator of i-Kasa.

The umbrellas have a return rate of 99.5 percent, the official added.

Different municipalities have different garbage separation policies when it comes to umbrellas. It is, at any rate, difficult to recycle umbrellas because they have metal frames. 

Ca Et La, a Tokyo-based umbrella manufacturer, has therefore come up with “+TIC” (Plus-tic), an umbrella made entirely of plastic.

The product, being flexible, does not readily snap in a rainstorm. It also does not succumb to rust and can be discarded as plastic waste.

The +TIC comes with a replaceable umbrella fabric, meaning its frame can be used for a long time.

Meanwhile, fashion brands have created bags and other products upcycled from broken vinyl umbrellas.

Fashion creator Aki Saito set up 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 brand is also collecting the vinyl parts of umbrellas from the public.

The brand has so far 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 the raw materials for its products should become unavailable when there are no more wasted vinyl umbrellas.

“Making bags alone does not eliminate wasted umbrellas,” Saito said, “but I think things could change by using the power of those who sympathize with our products and our concept.”

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