Zero Waste Town Case Study
Kamikatsu is a small village in Japan that is projected to be the first completely zero waste municipality in Japan. Of its 1,500 residents, each individual is expected to manage their own waste. This means they must separate reusables from disposables, recyclables from non-recyclables and biodegradable from non-biodegradable waste. All of this is done from their own homes or businesses. Instead of trucks that collect trash, residents bring their trash to a central waste disposal facility in the village.
This emphasis on zero waste started in 2003 when the then incinerator waste disposal system was unable to cope with the sheer amount of waste it was producing. The town officials then initiated the Zero Waste Declaration – that by 2020, the town would produce no waste at all. Though difficult at first, the residents were able to adapt to the lifestyles changes that came with living zero waste. Importantly, there was a shift in perception of trash: many things that were once considered disposable can be considered reusable, recyclable, compostable or otherwise have the capacity to be repurposed and used by somebody else.
“We only have one planet and we are damaging it so much at this point. I have a 10-month-old and I imagine if she can actually see the same beautiful nature in her eyes, not digitally. At this point, if nothing happens and if we cannot change, then it will happen that she won’t see it.” – Akira Sakano, Director of Zero Waste Academy
Waste Recycling System
There are over 45 types of materials spanning across 13 categories, from newspaper, magazine and paper flyers to spray cans, aluminium cans, metal cans. Residents are also required to wash and dry all of these materials to facilitate the recycling process. This extremely meticulous resource segregation mandate has allowed the village to recover up to 80% of its resources and is accredited for being a key factor of the success of Kamikatsu town as zero waste.
くるくる ショップ (“Kuru Kuru Shop”)
Products and materials that are no longer in use by the previous owner is sent here for others to freely take second-hand items at no cost at all. The shop provides a platform to repurpose discarded but still usable items.
Can everyone else follow by example?
It is important to acknowledge that Kamikatsu was able to achieve the success they have because it is a relatively small village that does not generate that much waste in the first place. To illustrate, the town is 109.6 km2 and generated 286 tonnes of waste (i.e. 2.6 tonnes per km2) whereas Singapore generated 7.7 million tonnes with an area of 728.3 km2 (i.e. 10,572.6 tonnes per km2) in 2017. Mandates that incorporate extensive community involvement works in places like Kamikatsu because the town hosts a small and stable population.
Nonetheless, the town presents a prime example of the ability of people to adapt to drastic adjustments in lifestyle, as well as, the benefits of living zero waste as a result of policy changes. In fact, Kamikatsu has cut its overall cost associated to waste management to about one-third of its original cost when it was still indiscriminately disposing everything into the incinerator. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until our waste facilities are unable to cope with our current waste production rates and only then we start making the hard decisions to address the waste problem.
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