Kamikatsu, a waste-free town in Japan that sets an example to the world

A remote village on the island of Shikoku in Japan has been practicing a low-waste economy for almost 20 years now. In contrast to Japan’s national record for being the world’s second-largest producer of plastic waste, the Kamikatsu people are on a mission to reuse, recycle and reduce as much as possible to combat overflowing landfills and eliminate reliance on incinerators. Amid the intensifying climate emergency and global waste crisis, many cities in Japan and various places around the world are looking to Kamikatsu as an example of how to transition to a low carbon and low waste economy.

Although Kamikatsu has yet to achieve its ” zero waste ” goal, the town, located some 600 km from Tokyo, is a far cry from the culture of excessive and wasteful consumption that exists in many other cities around the world. Since 2000, prompted by a new law on dioxin emissions from incinerators , Kamikatsu residents have been recycling, reusing, and reducing waste as much as possible.

Instead of building new incinerators to manage the trend of increasing amounts of waste year by year, the Kamikatsu community implemented measures to create less trash . In 2003, the village passed a zero waste declaration to ensure that the community cooperated in a new recycling system where household waste is separated into 45 categories , collected, exchanged, donated or recycled .

Products containing parts belonging to two or more different categories must be separated into the assigned collection bins which are then sent for recycling. Plastic food wrappers should be washed before throwing them away, while waste paper should be wrapped with recycled twine made from old milk cartons. Different types of glass and plastic are classified by color.

Residents are also incentivized to avoid single-use items through a scheme that awards consumers points when they reject single-use plastic items. Points can then be collected and used to purchase other reusable items .

The rest of the items that the residents of Kamikatsu have found too difficult to recycle , mainly due to products that have been made in other regions of Japan or imported from abroad, are eventually sent to an incinerator located in another city . These efforts have drastically reduced the amount of waste the town created: in 2016, Kamikatsu recycled 81% of all the waste it produced , far exceeding the national average of 20%.

In a country that represents the second largest producer of plastic waste in the world , Kamikatsu ‘s achievements demonstrate that it is possible to operate with a low-waste system, which has inspired other villages in Japan to start their own zero-waste campaigns. .

We cannot rely solely on consumers to reduce waste so to convince more people to take action to reduce waste and encourage widespread recycling, producers and manufacturers need to take steps to move away from single-use items and packaging. only use and design products that are reusable and much easier to recycle.