Kamikatsu Town, Japan, is attracting attention for its garbage collection efforts. Garbage in this town is not collected by a conventional garbage truck. Residents bring their own waste to the town‘‘s trash station. Garbage is classified into 34 categories and then whatever can be recycled is recycled. The garbage station is open until 2 pm every day. A local volunteer group was also set up for elderly people who need assistance. Every fourth Sunday, a flea market is held at the station selling secondhand clothes, books, etc.

Japan for Sustainability reports that the town first took an initiative to reduce waste by composting kitchen waste that accounted for some 30 per cent of the total garbage. In 1995, the town became the first municipality to subsidize household compost machines in Japan. Together with outdoor compost machines already subsidized in 1991, most households in the town now make use of compost machines.

Back in 1997 when the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law took effect, waste was classified into only 19 categories, and non-recycleable materials were incinerated at the town‘‘s two small incinerators. Since then, garbage was divided into 25 categories. After the enactment of the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins in 2000, the small incinerators were shut down for good. Today, garbage is classified into 34 categories and 79 per cent of it recycled.

Efforts toward Zero Waste

On September 19, 2003, the Kamikatsu Town Council issued the first-ever "Zero Waste Declaration" among Japanese municipalities. The preamble clarifies that the current national policy with its emphasis on incineration only encourages more, not less, waste generation. The town aims to cut its incinerated and landfilled waste to zero by 2020. To that end, the declaration contains five points of action plans including calling on the national and prefectural governments to make their utmost efforts to create legal and other frameworks to reduce waste generation.

The Zero Waste Declaration of Kamikatsu includes educating individuals not to litter and pollute the Earth and getting more friends around the world to improve the global environment. To that end, a non-profit organization named the Zero Waste Academy is being planned. Open recruitment for staff of the organization has already been completed in preparation for full-scale activities.

Mayor Kazuichi Kasamatsu of the town is energetically conducting various activities. For example, he submitted to the national and Tokushima prefectural governments a proposal to draft a law for extended producer responsibility in which producers are not only required to collect their products at end of life but also prohibited from manufacturing and selling products that cannot be collected. The mayor also delivers lectures on zero waste in various parts of the country.

Thanks to the town‘‘s continuing efforts, Kamikatsu has been selected by the Environment Ministry as one of the nation‘‘s model towns for fiscal 2004 with a "virtuous cycle of the environment and economy." The town has also been designated by the Japanese government as a special zone for structural reform and chosen to engage in a regional revitalization plan.

In more and more parts of Japan, municipalities and residents are working hard to better manage their own waste. We are hoping to see the nationwide spread of activities that have been initiated in a small town in a mountainous area under the inspiration of that great slogan, "Zero Waste!"

In case you are as fascinated by this example as I am, you may like to read this pastoral profile of Kamikatsu from JfS:

The town‘‘s district covers 55 villages of various sizes, southeast of the Shikoku mountains. Forests occupy about 85 percent of the town‘‘s total area (109.68 square kilometers