Japan is to construct a power plant in Tokyo Bay to recycle food waste as part of its methane fermentation power generation project, which is part of the "Super Eco-Town Project" promulgated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Japan for Sustainability reports that the plant will come on stream in fiscal 2005. Under the Food Recycling Law enacted in 2001, all business entities in the food industry are obliged to reduce or recycle food waste by more than 20 percent by 2006. Methane fermentation power generation is recommended in the law as one way to recycle food waste.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government launched the Super Eco-Town Project to promote the transformation of current society into a recycling-based society. Under the project, the Metropolitan government offers private businesses the use of City property in the Tokyo waterfront area for the development of waste treatment and recycling facilities. Against this backdrop, Ichikawa Kankyo Engineering Co., Kaname Kogyo Co. and San-R (3R) have jointly established a new company, called Bioenergy Co.

The recycling facility to be constructed will be the largest methane gas fermentation power plant in Japan with a processing capacity of 110 tons per day. It will recycle only food waste taken from industrial and non-industrial commercial waste. It will be the world‘‘s first attempt to generate and market power for fuel cells exclusively from methane fermentation in a metropolitan area using a large amount of organic waste.