Mr. Yasutomo Tanaka, Assistant Manager, Environment Policy Division, Environment Bureau, Kobe City Government

The Environment policy Division of the Environment Bureau of Kobe City is responsible for developing waste measures and awareness among Kobe’s 1.53 million citizens. Mr. Yasutomo Tanaka explained the waste management plan to achieve the city’s aim of becoming a recycle-based society.

The issue of waste is interlinked with the changing lifestyle of citizens. Since the 1960’s, Japan has experienced high economic growth, and with it, a period of mass production and mass consumption. With increased waste comes more strain on resources, pressure on disposal sites, and illegal dumping of waste. Kobe’s solution has been to try to change the mentality of its citizens, to go from a mass-consumption to 3R - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - based society. 

In February 2006, the city revised its Basic Plan for Processing General Waste Products, It targeted a reduction of 20% in the amount of waste produced within 5 years, and 25% within 10 years. To achieve the figures, measures to reduce and recycle waste had to be planned, but these relied on citizen participation, as they could not be achieved by the city government alone. So, environmental information, training and education has been arranged to citizens, businesses and school children, and the increased awareness has to be translated into the actions of the community. 

To formulate the city’s waste plan, collection and treatment mechanisms have to be redesigned. This directly impacts citizens, and without their cooperation, any new system cannot be successful. To approach this dilemma, the city government arranged a series of meetings, seminars and workshops, studies, survey questionnaires, and competitions to design new waste separation disposal bags. Academics, business leaders, and resident groups were involved in the process to establish the right ways to improve waste disposal and collection, and the targets for its reduction, and then advice and proposals were put to the Mayor’s Office. 

At meetings discussion the initial redevelopment of the waste plan, 45% of citizens were in favor of proposed changes, but 16% were not in favor. So, more people were involved in the plan’s revisions; 3,000 people and 2,700 businesses were surveyed, with a response rate of 46%. As a clever PR exercise, this both promoted and redeveloped the plan. Key here was the linking of the government and the people, especially through the Citizens Council for Environmental Preservation, instrumental in providing recommendations from the viewpoint of citizens, the producers of waste. Upon the plan’s revision, government officials gave over 2,800 explanatory meetings, and discussion sessions were held with 6,300 individuals and representatives of 130 organizations. 

The plan itself was announced in March, 2006, and its proposed measures were announced in the media. After the measures were announced, they were again revised for a full month, again with citizen participation. Concerns were raised over a charge for the collection of bulky waste, and the possibility of increased illegal dumping, as well as the complicated separation of plastics at the household level. So, a trial system for waste segregation was set up, for 1,100 households. This was monitored, and the plan adjusted according to the problems that arose. (The separation of plastics continues on a trial basis, but is set to go city-wide.)

Bags for separated waste disposal in Kobe

The resulting plan was implemented in November, 2008. It incorporates comprehensive recycling by citizens at the household level. All domestic waste has to be put into especially designed bags and left at the ‘clean stations’, areas outside apartment buildings or in streets, which are described as ‘intermediary treatment centers’. Four types of disposal bag are for cans and glass or plastic bottles; burnable waste; non-burnable waste; and plastic packaging and trays. The bags are privately manufactured and sold at supermarkets and convenience stores, in 15, 30 and 45 liter sizes, and following the set design approved by the city government. The bags have pictures and information in Korean, Chinese, and English, as well as Japanese. Most difficult for citizens to understand were the differences between ‘burnable’ and ‘non-burnable’ waste, so these are clearly indicated on the bags, which are transparent for safety and monitoring. Citizens do not pay for collection or treatment of waste, except for that which is too large for the bags, or weighs over 5 kilograms. Here, a paid collection system is set up (usually between 600 and 1,200 yen). Recycle (second-hand) shops are also promoted to give more and cheaper opportunities for recycling bulky waste.

Over 20% of recyclable waste is still not segregated by citizens, so work continues to increase their awareness and participation. Despite this though, over 90% of the community uses the bags correctly. As the five-year point of the 2006 Basic Plan for Processing General Waste Products approaches, its ten-year target of waste reduction by 25% has been achieved and needs to be re-set. The plan can be considered a success.