Living in a world without waste

Roger Harrabin, BBC News 11 Jul 08;

Zero waste: The Japanese island where the rubbish collectors never come

The Mayor of Kamikatsu, a small community in the hills of eastern Japan, has urged politicians around the world to follow his lead and make their towns "Zero Waste".

He told BBC News that all communities could learn from Kamikatsu, where residents have to compost all their food waste and sort other rubbish into 34 different categories.

Residents say the scheme has prompted them to cut down on waste generally and food waste in particular.

If the policy spread, it would reduce the amount of food waste, and so take some of the pressure off high food prices.

Kamikatsu may be a backwater in the wooded hills and rice terraces of south-eastern Japan but it's become a world leader on waste policy.

There are no waste collections from households at all. People have to take full responsibility for everything they throw away.

Kitchen waste has to be composted. Non-food waste is processed either in local shops which accept goods for recycling or in Kamikatsu's Zero Waste Centre. There, people have to sort their unwanted items into 34 different boxes for recycling.

Residents have to sort plastic bottles (used for fruit juice, for example) from PET (polyethylene teraphthalate) bottles (used for mineral water) because PET is more valuable when it is separated out.

There are specific boxes for pens, razors and the sort of Styrofoam trays on which meat is often purchased. These have to be washed and dried.

The scheme was adopted when councillors realised it was much cheaper than incineration - even if the incinerator was used to generate power.

Winning idea

Many locals are enthusiastic participants. Take Kikue Nii, who strips labels off bottles then washes and dries them before sending them to recycling.

She takes her other everyday waste to the local shop where she receives a lottery ticket in return for a bag of cans.

She has won a £5 food voucher four times. It's not a huge amount but it's better than nothing.

She is also a big fan of composting.

"I think I produce less waste because I have to compost it," she says.

"When I can't use the whole vegetable or meat, I try to cook it again with wine and so on. It makes a very good soup. Everyone should have a composter if they can."

Her neighbours Fumikazu Katayama and his wife Hatsue are ardent composters, too.

Hatsue says: "I have to do it every day; it's certainty a bit of work. But it's a good idea to send things back to the earth so I support it. I just do it naturally now; it's part of the routine."

The Katayamas take the rest of their waste to the Zero Waste Centre for sorting - carrying the waste bag between them.

Global question

Questions remain about the scheme. Some of the composters are boosted by electric power, which creates greenhouse gas emissions.

And it's possible that the savings in greenhouse gases from recycling are negated by the need for people to drive to the Zero Waste Centre.

Natsuko Matsuoka, one of the originators of the centre, disagrees - she says people generally tie in the journey with a weekly shopping trip.

A poll showed that although the Zero Waste policy has many admirers, 40% of people weren't happy about all aspects of the scheme.

The Mayor Kasamatsu Kasuichi is undeterred: "We should consider what is right and what is wrong, and I believe it is wrong to send a truck to collect the waste and burn it.

"That is bad for the environment. So whether I get support or not, I believe I should persuade people to support my policy."

Now he invites other politicians around the world to follow suit.

Japanese village wastes nothing
Rubbish sorted into 34 categories in zero-waste quest
Straits Times 9 Aug 08;

KAMIKATSU (Japan): Not long ago, life in Kamikatsu revolved around the rice crop and tourists arriving to soak in the restorative waters of the local hot spring.

Now, the tiny village in south- western Japan has a new obsession: rubbish.

Since 2003, Kamikatsu's 2,000 residents have embarked on a quest to become Japan's first zero-waste community, The Guardian newspaper reported.

Here, all household waste must be sorted into no fewer than 34 categories before being taken to a recycling centre.

Glass bottles must be relieved of their caps and sorted by colour. Plastic bottles must be kept separate from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles that once contained mineral water, the report said.

All bottles, cans and even plastic food wrappers must be washed thoroughly; newspapers and magazines have to be piled in neat bundles tied with a twine made from recycled milk cartons.

Any waste that is not composted is taken to the zero-waste centre which accommodates a dizzying array of items, ranging from bottles, cans and newspapers to crockery, batteries, diapers, pens and mirrors, the report said.

Things that can be reused end up at the Kuru Kuru recycling store, where residents are free to drop off or take home free of charge whatever they like, mostly clothes, crockery and ornaments.

According to the report, all but a few categories of rubbish are recycled. Wooden chopsticks are pulped and made into paper, and cooking oil reappears in fertiliser.

But for some items, the only option remains to be incineration. Batteries are shipped to a recycling on the northern island of Hokkaido, while glass and ceramic ware and light bulbs are buried in landfills.

An hour's drive from the nearest city and 595km from Tokyo, the village was forced to change the way it managed its waste in 2000 when strict emission regulations forced it to shut down its two incinerators.

'We were no longer able to burn our rubbish, so we thought the best policy was not to produce any in the first place,' Mr Sonoe Fujii of the Zero Waste Academy, which oversees the scheme, was quoted by the paper as saying.

Despite initial opposition, the movement has spawned many enthusiastic participants.

'At first, it was very hard work,' 65-year-old Kikue Nii said, as she emptied a bowl of vegetable peelings into her electric garbage disposal unit.

'I was working when the scheme started and found myself spending my lunch break dealing with our rubbish,' she said. 'It took ages to sort everything...but it comes naturally now.'

According to official figures, Kamikatsu's recycling rate has soared from 55 per cent a decade ago to around 80 per cent today.

Not everyone is happy though. Critics point out that some of the composters use electricity and that most residents of Kamikatsu take their rubbish to the zero- waste centre by car.

The paper also reported that a recent poll showed 40 per cent of residents were still unhappy about some aspects of the policy.

'We still have opponents, particularly because almost everything has to be washed,' Mr Fujii said.

'All we can do is talk to the doubters and explain why it is important. I think consciousness is growing that this is a good thing; that it's not just the right thing to do, but the only thing to do.'