Promotion of the 3Rs to citizens of Kobe

some supermarkets, and citizens are encouraged to choose simply packaged, refillable items, and buy and cook less to reduce food waste. Second-hand sales and exchange of goods are arranged to reduce waste, and furniture and bicycles are repaired and re-sold at five ‘Recycling Studios’, which also exchange nursery equipment, children’s toys and books for free. These have become so popular that they use a lottery system for purchase. Bulky waste collected by the city is classified as ‘re-useable’ and ‘non-useable’, and taken to the Recycling Studios or shredded. One Recycling Studio is incorporated into the Environment and Future Pavilion, an environmental education facility for visits by school groups and citizens (see page 12). 

Community awareness meeting on Kobe's new waste disposal system

The household waste collection system is explained by officials to resident groups through explanatory talks at times their choosing, and near their homes. As a result, the waste disposal system’s rules have largely been adhered to. If waste is not properly sorted and put in the appropriate bags, it is not taken by the collectors, so each community of the city appoints a person in charge of garbage collection points, or ‘clean stations’, to monitor and make sure neighbors follow the rules for disposal. Warning signs are put up in areas where citizens are not observing the rules properly, and   extensive instructions are issued door-to-door on the right bags to use, collection points and times, and hazardous or inappropriate disposal. Cans, glass and plastic bottles, and paper and cardboard are separated by households, and some supermarkets take returned food trays and milk cartons. Private groups collect waste paper and fabric material from households at designated points and times, and deliver the paper to recycling points. Such groups number 2,270, and they are provided with government subsidies and payments of 2 yen per kilogram of paper, and 3 yen per kilogram for fabrics collected. 

The animated character, a pig named ‘Waketon’ (meaning ‘separate’ and ‘pig’ in local dialect) is used as a mascot for public awareness events, information literature and waste segregation promotion activities. The character encourages the participation of schoolchildren, and there is even a ‘Waketon’ dance, taught to older students. ‘Waketon Assistance’ citizen groups, largely women’s associations, are sponsored by the government to hold awareness raising meetings on waste segregation, recycling and disposal, at which the ‘fun’ element is emphasized. As speakers at the meetings are housewives rather than city officials, they are more persuasive to their audience. Recently, the city has opened ‘Waketon House’ as a center to organize such meetings, and to facilitate environmental study groups. It supports citizen groups by providing leaflets, posters and giving advice and explanatory meetings about garbage separation rules. From April to October, 2008, over 2,500 such meetings were held, with over 100,000 people taking part. As citizen participation in waste management increases, the amount of waste and its harm to the environment decreases, and the benefits are reaped by the city.