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One of the gravest environmental problems facing us today is how to manage materials we use and produce as a result of the industrial development in the 20th century. The concept of ecomaterials was proposed with their full life-cycle taken into consideration in 1991 and has widely developed now. There have been many governmental activities for the creation of sustainable society in Japan such as enactments of environmental laws and regulations. Many Japanese enterprises have been also engaged in a lot of activities for environmental protection. Owing to their endeavour, ecomaterials in Japan have been developed and their number has increased yearly. The research was made on how ecomaterials are currently used in Japan. All the information was obtained from the Web-sites 2004 year version environmental reports of the organizations concerned. In this paper, ecomaterials produced by two hundred and sixty six listed companies on the stock market were researched and classified into six categories. It also indicates the realization on the part of Japanese companies of the importance of ecomaterials resulting in the advancement of related research activities. Higher materials efficiency products of user friendly, energy saving and high performance type, which are the results of years of engineering research and development are being promoted as newly improved and efficient products. It seems that the time is approaching when it is necessary to consider as a part of environmental problems the limited availability of natural resources and to promote a sustainable society from a broader perspective.

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The research was made on how ecomaterials are currently used in Japan. All the information was obtained from 2001 to 2004 year version environmental reports on the Web-sites of the organizations concerned. In this paper, about 3900 ecomaterials produced by approximately 280 listed companies on the stock market were researched and classified into six categories. The number of ecomaterials produced in Japan has doubled in these several years and research activities in this field seem to be getting rather well-balanced. Our effort is focused on the analysis of the characteristics of "Greener process" and "Greener resource" type ecomaterials. The ecomaterials of each industry have their own characteristics according to an industry to which they belong. And each industry still has its own particular environmental subject to tackle.