When you buy goods at a sporting event, what do you do with the plastic bag used for packaging? You’ve probably been tossing it straight in the trash because you have no use for it. But take a moment to think. Does that bag really have no use? Could it be reborn as a recycled product? The answer is yes: It can be recycled into a different material to be used again. Vissel Kobe and Rakuten Group have begun a project to collect plastic bags and turn them into new custom retail bags as a product, in order to accelerate their eco-friendly efforts.

Just this past April, syncSPORTS by Rakuten introduced the news that the J.League announced its participation in “Sport Positive Leagues,” an organization that promotes climate action across the sports world. It was founded in response to climate change, as extreme weather has caused sports match cancellations to jump fivefold since 2018. Takayuki Tsuji, the league’s executive officer who is also in charge of sustainability, has also previously expressed concerns about heat in addition to these issues (see past interview articlehere ).

To address this situation, Vissel Kobe has proactively worked on environmental conservation in the past, including introducing “Circularity Assessment” at home games and using cutlery made from environmentally conscious materials at food stands. They have now launched a new project to transform plastic bags into custom retail bags.

The idea for creating custom retail bags came from a desire to make a product that fans and supporters feel familiar with and will use for as long as possible. It’s envisioned for everyday use as a bag for shopping or carrying tools to soccer school. For this project, they worked with tech startup RECOTECH, which also handled the “Circularity Assessment” mentioned earlier, and plastic packaging specialist maker Osaka Wada Chemical Industry.

At the Rakuten SUPER MATCH (Vissel Kobe’s home game at the National Olympic Stadium, title-sponsored by Rakuten Group) held in April 2025, plastic bags used to package purchased merchandise were collected at “Plastic Bag Collection Spots” set up near the goods shop.

The collected plastic is transported to specialist recycling partners. With traceability properly managed, it is recycled together with high-quality plastic collected from other companies, realizing stable quality and high recycling efficiency.

This time, the “mass balance method” has been adopted, allocating the amount recycled from home game collections as recycled material. The collected bags go through Osaka Wada Chemical Industry’s factory and are effectively turned into new “Vissel Kobe Original Shoppers” as products.

Nakao Eiji of Osaka Wada Chemical Industry and Omura Tatsuki of RECOTECH spoke about this project.

“Creating new shoppers from plastic bags that would normally become garbage is a good initiative, I think. Japan has long had a culture of treasuring things, but with plastics there has been a tendency toward disposability. In this case, approximately 10% of each shopper is made from recycled material, so it’s important to firmly communicate that plastic too can be recycled and to make it take root as a culture.” (Nakao Eiji, Osaka Wada Chemical Industry)

“For example, there are still many materials that can be recycled at sporting events―old jerseys you no longer wear, support flags, and so on. This shopper production is just one example, but creating an opportunity is what matters first.” (Omura Tatsuki, RECOTECH)

The shoppers, which have been approximately five months in the making, are scheduled to go on sale at Vissel Kobe home matches from September 2025 onwards. This initiative may not have a major impact on climate change measures, but there is no doubt that accumulating one thing at a time is what counts. Hoping that through these shoppers, fans and supporters will become at least a little more conscious of environmental measures in their daily lives, Vissel Kobe and Rakuten Group will continue their efforts against climate change going forward.

The bags before printing, reborn as shoppers.

Vissel Kobe and the Rakuten Group have adopted the slogan “Powered by Sports. Playing for All. A BETTER FUTURE TOGETHER” logo is printed in large.

PHOTO: Teppei Hori
TEXT: Kodai Wada
EDIT: Yohsuke Watanabe (IN FOCUS)