Article: Japan’s disposable home culture is an environmental and financial headache

Link: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/disposable-homes-japan-environment-lifespan-sustainability

I have addressed land pollution, soil pollution and the nuclear disaster in Japan thus far. I have also highlight the effects of how these environmental pollution can become an environmental hazard. As discussed, Japan is a consumptive-oriented society that is moving towards a recycle-oriented one. However there is one type of waste that is difficult to recycle, construction waste.

This article I am sharing, describes how Japan’s disposable home culture is an environmental burden to the country. Today, a house in Japan has an average lifespan of 30 years, whereby 50% of houses are demolished within 38 years. House value also depreciates to near zero within the first 15 years. Since the past, Japan has been in a cycle of constant house demolition and restoration. During post-World War II period, most structures were destroyed and have to be built from scratch. However, these buildings were not of good quality and have to be rebuilt again. Till today, houses are still repeating this pattern but primarily to suit the government’s building code. This legal regulation will be reviewed every 10 years to adapt to earthquake risk. Instead of spending money to retrofit houses, most people just build new homes. This is not financially viable as people work hard to pay off mortgage that amounts to nothing. Most importantly, this breeds a range of environmental problems, especially for the construction sector.

In the disposable home culture, heaps of construction wastes are produced, and more than 80% of it could be recycled. Since the year 2000, Japan government passed a Law on Recycling of Construction-Related Materials. Concrete waste was recycled as roadbed gravel but there were more discarded concrete than roads available. Consequently, illegal dumping of construction wastes emerges and this accounts for 70% of illegally discarded waste nationwide. Even if waste were to be recycled, the process itself is energy exhaustive and yields less valuable materials than the ones discarded. To top it all, Japanese view houses as perishable and thus neglects proper maintenance of houses. Aggregating all these factors together, the construction industry is not environmentally friendly. Statistics shows the construction sector being the top emitter of carbon dioxide in Japan, releasing 244.78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. 

It is tough for Japan to withdraw from this cycle, as their preference for wood as building material is a cultural phenomenon. This bandwagon effect is influenced by Japanese perception of nature, whereby their environment is considered benevolent. To maximize contact between inner and outer environments, the Japanese tend to rebuild their dwellings to adjust living spaces for changing conditions (Murato, 1985). Hence, wood as a major structural ingredient was chosen for its reproducibility and easy usage. However, most timber homes are made from imported woods, despite Japan being heavily forested. This inflates the carbon footprint of the construction industry, making it a culturally driven environmental problem.

One solution proposed by the author is to stop promoting home ownership, which corresponds to a 200-year home law. This would avert the need for houses to meet building standards and non-compliance would not warrant its people to pay tax. Providing more condominiums is a good option too. Additionally, renovation companies can promote green buildings and longer-lasting homes to create this necessary shift. 

References

Braw, E. (2014, May 2). Japan's disposable home culture is an environmental and financial headache. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/disposable-homes-japan-environment-lifespan-sustainability

Laws and Support Systems for Promoting Waste Recycling in Japan. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nett21.gec.jp/Ecotowns/LawSupportSystems.pdf

Murota, Y. 1985. Culture and the environment in Japan. Environmental management, 9(2), 105-111.

e-Waste Migration: From Japan to developing nations

Japan is a major consumer of electronic appliances/ devices and it generates loads of electronic waste (e-waste) annually. In year 2005, Japan abandoned 7 million computers, amongst which 37% were recycled, 37% reused and the remaining 26% exported overseas. Most of Japanese e-waste is migrated to developing countries such as Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia (Elliott & Shimamoto, 2008). Report has noted that more than 400,000 television sets end up in Philippines annually (Hornyak, 2010) and this has attracted sweatshops around the dumping grounds overseas. In Manila, dozens of sweatshops are operating near the dumpsite to extract gold from unwanted Japanese circuit boards. These little factories uses toxic chemicals, such as potassium cyanide and nitric acid, to treat the waste which is then released illegally into nearby residential area (ibid.). Since e-waste contains heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium, these contaminants can pollute surrounding water sources and even agricultural soil. Consequently, a myriad of environmental health risks is bred from this water and soil pollution. In a bid to address this issue, the japan government is increasing its scope of waste collection for recycling. As seen in Diagram 1 below, small household wastes such as cellphones, camera and hair dryer will be collected. Because this is a pilot test in Osaka City, no official amendments has been done on the Home Appliance Recycling Law today.

Diagram 1: Pilot Test on Collection of small household metal wastes in Osaka City (Source: UNEP, 2011)

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal has been ratified by Japan in year 1993 but there have still been contraventions to the agreement. In 1999, a Japanese firm shipped 2700 metric tons of hazardous medical and industrial waste to Philippines under the disguise of recycling paper (Clapp, 2002). In fact some developing nations, such as India, welcome the importation of toxic waste and these countries have not ratified the Convention till today. The Basel Convention is thus ineffective in regulating transboundary waste migration. One big flaw of the Convention is that there is no standard for distinguishing garbage from secondhand goods (Hornyak, 2010). An abandoned computer might be deemed as a repairable commodity by Philippines and thus the movement of e-waste is permitted.

In conclusion, e-waste migration to developing Southeast Asian countries is prevalent and this could be a kind of transboundary pollution. In my opinion, having a sound legal system is insufficient as Japanese companies could still relocate polluting industries overseas. This will indirectly migrate waste overseas, as pollution is not happening within Japan. With Japan’s strict regulations and fees, companies might find it troublesome to locate factories in the country. Relocation of polluting industries might then be an option for corporates as they can escape the tight environmental regulations. Hence, a balance between legal and fiscal policies locally and globally is needed to prevent this from happening. Only with concerted efforts from the global community can we then uphold environmental protection and standards.   

References

Clapp, J. (2002). Seeping Through the Regulatory Cracks. SAIS review, 22(1), 141-155.

Elliott, R. J., & Shimamoto, K. (2008). Are ASEAN Countries Havens for Japanese Pollution‐Intensive Industry?. The World Economy, 31(2), 236-254.

Hornyak, Tim. 'Recycling Electronic Waste In Japan: Better Late Than Never'. CNN 2010. Web. Retrieved from http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/shop/urban-mining-finding-value-amongst-old-electronics-464333

UNEP,. 'Separate Collection Of Small Household Metal Wastes And Survey On Disposal Of Small Home Appliances For Waste Reduction In Osaka City'. N.p., 2011. Web. Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/ietc/Portals/136/Events/WEEE-E%20workshop%20July%202011/09.Osaka%20City.pdf

Landfill Disaster: From 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

Major earthquakes can cause sand-liquefaction of landfills as sand sediments are loosened by the great shock. This was noted after March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as 42 km² of Tokyo Bay Landfill coast was subsided by about 20cm (Konagai et al., 2012). Reports have even mentioned that some landfills have turned into mudflats (Chu and Ishikawa, 2011) (see Image 1).

Image 1: Tokyo Bay Landfill converted to mudflat (Source: Chu and Ishikawa, 2011)

When sand is liquefied, it acts as quicksand and weakens the integrity of the land beneath. Subsided land then results in uneven land surface and causes buildings o tilt. As sand spreads laterally outwards on the ground, pressure is placed on seawalls, pushing it forward by 2 metres (Konagai et al., 2012) (see Image 2).

Image 2: Seawalls pushed forward (Source: Konagai et al., 2012)

 The most worrying concern is the disruption of sewage treatment and drainage areas. When loosened sand accumulates and clogs up drainage pipes, flooding occurs. Houses and surrounding soils are then submerged in water for several months (Yanagisawa, 1993). The following video shows the land liquefaction caused by March 2011 earthquake.

Though the earthquake has compromised the integrity of buildings and structures, concerns over landfill leakage should be highlighted. I think that research should be conducted to evaluate the possibility of hazardous leachate leak and toxic gas escape from the landfills. Because Tokyo Bay is home to millions of people and there are various factories located there (Konagai et al., 2012), any waste leakage can directly expose people to environmental risk. Take for example, leachate leak can contaminate agricultural soil, which could then cause food poisoning when tainted crops are consumed. These are all long-term problems that might result from sand-liquefaction of landfill and Japan might not realize this till decades later. Hence, I urge the Japan government to conduct more in-depth environmental impact assessment on landfill liquefaction and start addressing any potential environmental pollution that arise from it.  

References

Konagai, K., Asakura, T., Suyama, S., Kyokawa, H., Kiyota, T., Eto, C., & Shibuya, K. (2011). Soil subsidence map of the Tokyo bay area liquefied in the March 11th Great East Japan Earthquake. Proc. Int. Sym. on Engineering Lessons Learned from the Giant Earthquake.

Chu, Kathleen, and Mariko Ishikawa. 'Tokyo Bay Home Demand To Sag After Quake Turned Land To Mud'. Bloomberg Business 2011. Web. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-04-13/tokyo-bay-home-demand-to-sag-after-earthquake-turned-land-to-mud

Kirby, Peter Wynn. Troubled Natures. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2011. Print.

Yanagisawa E, Iai S., Wakamatsu K., Yamazaki J. and Yamazaki F. (1993) “Damage in Dagupan area.” Reconnaissance Report on the July 16, 1990 Luzon Earthquake, the Philippines, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Series No. 1, 101-124.