Recycling in Japan

As discussed previously, Japan produces loads of wastes from excessive packaging. According to figures from Waste Atlas, Japan ranks 8^th in the world for generating nearly 4.5 million tons of municipal waste per year, of which 60% are containers and packaging materials (Olmsted, 2007). To reduce municipal waste, the government has implemented a comprehensive recycling program and passed a few laws for waste management.

Firstly, the Container and Packaging Recycling Law was enacted in April 1997 to encourage the recycle of waste containers and packaging. Based on legislation, consumers and businesses are obliged to take responsibilities over their wastes. Individuals and corporate entities are thus expected to conduct their own waste management program. This law governs the recycling of glass bottles, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles and paper cartons.  An overview of the system is summarized in Figure 1 and 2 below.

Figure 1: Overview of the Container and Packaging Recycling Law (Source: Ministry of the Environment, 2007)

Figure 2: Involvement of various stakeholders in the recycling of waste containers and packaging trash (Source: Ministry of the Environment, 2007)

To increase recycling participation rate at the ground level, every household is expected to sort and recycle their wastes properly. There are 3 main types of wastes (burnable, non-burnable and recyclables). Households are issued different colored bags for different waste type, for which they are expected to sort out accordingly. Neatly sorted wastes are then gathered at a garbage collection point, located within each housing block. Waste collection will be collected either every week or fortnightly, depending on the type of waste. As the people of Japan have to take ownership over their own wastes, each garbage bag will be labeled with their household name. This allows the community to recognize and ensure everyone is involved in recycling. The recycling committee will monitor each household bag to ensure recycling is done correctly. If garbage isn’t sorted out properly, the rubbish will be returned to the respective owner with a sticker of shame (Lane, 2014) on the garbage bag (see Image 1).

Image 3: Examples of a rubbish bag that has been labeled with the sticker of shame (Source: flickr)

As of today, recycling within households has been very successful. Residents are expected to recycle meticulously, for example peeling off labels from bottles when sorting waste, as seen in the video below. Efforts to recycle are thus evident amongst japanese and this has became an expected social behavior. Since recycling is done at the municipal level, residents are pressured to conform and practice recycling dutifully.

Another law that came into force was the Home Appliance Recycling Law, which was passed in April 2001, covering 4 major home appliances (televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners). According to law, consumers have to pay a recycling fee when they dispose their home appliances. This fee is then channeled to manufacturers as an incentive for them to invest in machines that aids in the recycling process. On the consumer end, a polluter-pay principle (an environmental tool covered in lecture recently) is applied. By having this levy, consumers are encouraged to purchase durable goods so as to avoid the disposal fee. The overall effect would then be achieving a net reduction in home appliance wastes.

Besides packaging and electronic wastes, an Automobile Recycling Law was sanctioned in year 2005. Car owners have to pay a disposable fee of between USD65 to USD166 per vehicle (Olmsted, 2007) to cover the cost of recycling of CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) gas that is used in automobile shredder. The aim is to hit 95% recycling rate of cars by year 2015, which is this year. As of today, the law has been pretty effective and has got cost-conscious Japanese shifting towards eco-friendly cars.

In conclusion, Japan might be consumption-oriented but the nation is good at cleaning up their wastes. The many laws and fiscal tools implemented have got Japanese to practice recycling everyday. However, how effective has recycling been thus far? In my next two blog posts, I will be evaluating the success and failures of recycling in Japan.

References

Lane, Verity. 'Getting Down And Dirty With Japan's Garbage - Tofugu'. Tofugu. N.p., 2014. Web. Retrieved from http://www.tofugu.com/2014/10/09/getting-down-and-dirty-with-japans-garbage/

Olmsted, J. Japan’s Recycling: More Efficient than USA. (2007). Web. Retrieved from http://www.minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/52921/Recycling.pdf?sequence=1

Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan,. 'Law For The Promotion Of Sorted Collection And Recycling Of Containers And Packaging'. N.p., 2007. Web. Retrieved from https://www.env.go.jp/en/laws/recycle/07.pdf