What Americans Can Learn from Japan's Waste-Treatment Processes

The success of waste-management policies in Japan should be the envy of all industrialized countries. Japan has embarked on a rigorous campaign to minimize waste and maximize recycling throughout the country for over a decade. Virtually every citizen and industry is educated about the benefits and processes of recycling, and makes conscious attempts to participate fully in this effort. On the other hand, across the United States, although waste management efforts are not completely non-existent, they are given significantly less priority and people certainly do not view the 3Rs (Recycling, Reuse and Reduce) as an important priority or way-of-life like the Japanese do.

In this paper, I will first examine the waste treatment processes in Japan with a focus on recycling in households. Japan's success can be largely attributed to its excellent waste separation and collection procedures. A major factor for this success is the conscientious cooperation of its people towards this cause. This paper will also address how the United States can achieve this similar success. Using the Japan system as an exemplar, I would like to make recommendations as to how Americans can learn from the Japanese and participate actively in recycling. An estimated 32% of all U.S. municipal waste is now recycled and there are about 9,000 curbside recycling programs operating nationwide. .But this is a far cry from the 70-80% municipal recycling rate in most parts of Japan. More specifically, I would also discuss briefly how Philadelphia can improve on her waste management policies and potentially become a role model for other cities to emulate, in the hope of awakening a nationwide consciousness to the importance of maximizing "potential resources" in the form of waste.

Urgency of the matter

The issues of waste and waste management are serious and urgent problems, but the public have simply been ignorant or oblivious to the severity of the matter. The current urgency provides a window into more abiding environmental problems. Landfills are reaching their maximum capacity. The number of landfills in the United States is steadily decreasing-from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005 according to the statistics provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. An overloaded landfill means the risk of contaminating the ground water supply, which will in turn lead to more dire consequences such as the poisoning of wildlife and water supplies that are no longer potable. The other method of incinerating waste produces large amounts of carbon monoxide and harmful carcinogenic gases that lead to the production of acid rain and the pollution of the atmosphere. Furthermore, not all kinds of garbage can be incinerated, so sorting and separation has to be undertaken to remove hazardous or incombustible materials such as items laced with harmful chemicals, bulky rubber pieces and metal.

We dispose of waste everyday, but how many of us actually know what happens to our garbage? This is an excellent embodiment of the saying "out of sight, out of mind". Do we even care what happens to our waste or regard it as capable of being a potential resource again? The answer is probably no.

The issue of recycling has met with substantial resistance in the past and present, as some argue that it is in fact more expensive and uneconomical to recycle. It is true that dumping at landfills costs the least, but incineration and recycling are comparable in costs. Furthermore, they choose to believe that mobilizing the public is tedious and virtually impossible, and assume that there are easier solutions. The truth is there is no easy way out; current waste management practices in the United States of predominantly dumping garbage at landfills and incinerating burnable trash are not long-term solutions. The following section is an introduction to the success of waste management policies in Japan for the purpose of illustrating that recycling is not impossible on a large scale by self-motivated individuals.

Waste Management Policy in Japan

Japan has not always been so concerned about its waste, especially in the 1960s and 70s when the country became obsessed with massive industrial development and economic progress. A prime example is the Minamata pollution scandal, where rapid industrialization coupled with nonchalance to environmental consequences resulted in the suffering of more than two thousand residents of the area from the slow and painful effects of mercury poisoning. The Chisso Minamata plant that manufactured acetaldehyde discharged waste water that contained a methyl mercury compound into the Yatsushiro Sea, which became concentrated in local fish and shell fish. The first victims of the pollution were fishermen and their families who consumed seafood on a regular basis (George, 46). The Minamoto disease scandal is not an isolated example. During this period of mindless industrialization in the 1960s, many industrial areas in Japan became hazardously polluted, and numerous diseases and poisoning scandals such as the Niigata Minamata disease, Itai-itai disease and Yokkaichi asthma broke out.

"In the 1970s new types of pollution and environmental destruction emerged in the processes of mass 'production', 'distribution', 'consumption and waste disposal', coupled with rapid urbanization" (Shibata, 100). "Waste became a particular problem in the rapidly urbanizing Tokyo which lacked a proper system of waste management. Long-suffering Tokyo, which had already lived through industrial air and water pollution, now faced a new threat-that of domestic garbage" (Shibata, 101).

It was through these harsh lessons that the Japanese were awakened to the importance of preserving the cities and towns that they live in. Furthermore, land for landfills was increasingly scarce in Japan, thus implementing alternatives to waste management was seen as timely and necessary. A citizens' recycling movement was already active in the suburban city of Machida in Tokyo since the mid-1970s, but it was not until twenty years later that official laws were passed in the Diet because a consensus was finally reached that:

There is a great need for a shift to more environment- and resource-conscious economic activities, with greater emphasis on the 3Rs of 'reduce (reduction of generated waste)', 'reuse', and 'recycle'. The 'Basic Law for the Promotion of the Formation of Recycling-Oriented Society' was enacted in June 2000, and prompted further laws to facilitate the 3Rs. For example, laws were brought in to cover: product packaging (the 'Container and Packaging Recycling Law'); regulation of electrical appliances including televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners (the 'Household Electrical Appliance Recycling Law'); food (the 'Food Recycling Law'); construction waste (the 'Construction Waste Recycling Law') and waste in general (the 'Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law'; and the 'Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources').

(Shibata, 97)

The "Containers and Packaging Recycling Law" was passed in April 1997 before the "Basic Law for the Promotion of the Formation of Recycling-Oriented Society" because "nearly half the volume of domestic waste in Japan consists of containers and packaging, namely cans, bottles, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, and paper packages" (Yoshida, 37). This myriad of laws was enacted in the hope of reforming Japan into a sustainable society.

The system of recycling was initiated through two fundamental steps, namely 1) materials separation and collection, and 2) processing and recycling the garbage. "Households are often required to identify the separated items to facilitate collection. In Hiroshima City, for example, paper and textiles must be bundled with strings 'tied crosswise'. Metals ad bottles must be put out in special, 'stout' bags. In agricultural areas, compostable material must be put into paper bags designated by the town" (Hershkowitz, 29). Similarly, Yokohama City sent residents a 27-page booklet on how to sort their trash which included extraordinarily detailed instructions on distinguishing between 518 items.

Lipstick goes into burnables; lipstick tubes, 'after the contents have been used up', [go] into 'small metals' or plastics. Take out your tape measure before tossing a kettle; under 12 inches, it goes into small metals, but over that it goes into bulk refuse. Socks? If only one, it is burnable; a pair goes into used cloths, though only if the socks 'are not torn, and the left and right sock match'. Throw neckties into used cloth, but only after they have been 'washed and dried'.

(Onishi, A1)

The collection of household garbage is basically done by voluntary groups or the municipal government. "Voluntary organizations that collect separate items for re-sale to private industry or intermediate resource recovery dealers are usually registered with the municipal government" (Hershkowitz, 33). If a system of door-to-door collection is not available, residents will be required to take their trash to nearly garbage collection stations (as illustrated in Fig. 1). At the garbage stations, bins are set up to collect "everything from tofu containers to egg cartons, plastic bottle caps to disposable chopsticks, flurescent tubes to futons" (Onishi, A2).

"Although most Japanese residents self-police their waste sorting, in some cities the name of the disposer must be on the sorted garbage bag so that if a bag is out of compliance with the local sorting regulations, it can be traced. Being identified as a family breaking the rules is a cause for great embarrassment" (Hershkowitz, 29-30). There may also be local residents who act as supervisors to facilitate and monitor the process at garbage stations.

An excellent example of a city that has succeeded in its recycling efforts is Nagoya, Japan. The role played by the local government in advocating waste management played a very important role in the significant reduction of waste in the prefecture (Yoshimura, 225). The city issued a "Waste Emergency Declaration" in February 1999, which zoned in on the problem of waste as its main priority. In August 2000, Nagoya established a new system of sorting and collecting plastic and paper containers and packaging, "which made up approximately 60 per cent of the total solid waste volume" (Yoshimura, 228).They launched a massive campaign to educate the public, because they had to radically change the waste disposal habits of its residents. The most noteworthy part of this campaign was the mobilization of existing neighborhood groups called chonaikai, "through which the new system of wasting sorting and collection was introduced. The community network, which began at the household level and expanded into school districts, functioned well" (Yoshimura, 233). "Through its innovative, community-based waste management strategy, Nagoya achieved waste levels that were thought impossible for large cities in Japan. After only two years, the city's new system was hailed nationwide as a frontrunner in waste management" (235). The fundamental reason for the success of recycling efforts in Nagoya can be attributed to the innovative strategies of the local government and the cooperation of different neighborhood associations and other citizen-led bodies (226).

After the garbage items have been correctly separated, they will be sent to recycling centers, crushing facilities or incineration plants. "In Osaka City, all combustible waste is incinerated at incineration plants, whereas bulky waste is crushed at crushing facilities...Recyclable waste such as cans, bottles and PET bottles are further dealt with at the Tsurumi Recyclable Resources Sorting Center" (OCEMB).
Incineration plants in Osaka also participate in thermal recycling, where they harness the heat generated from incineration to produce energy.

Reasons for Japan's success

The main factor for Japan's success in household waste management is that they have made recycling a major priority, which is evident in the number of laws to promote the 3Rs. In my opinion, there are three core reasons for Japan's proven system. Firstly, as has been discussed earlier, they have successfully mobilized community groups such as the chonaikai to introduce new laws and policies at the grassroots level, and utilized volunteer or paid workers to monitor the collection areas. Secondly, there is also the presence of peer pressure owing to the fear of embarrassment if one had not separated the trash diligently. Finally, to sustain the longevity of this waste management system, it is necessary to educate the young and the public in general. Aggressive education of the masses on this topic is probably the best way to overcome inertia and resistance to hassle of sorting one's trash.

"Of all the elements which contribute to Japan's extraordinary materials separation and recycling success, perhaps the most effective tool is the widespread public education programs" (Hershkowitz, 64). "While municipalities promote recycling at the local level, the Clean Japan Center promotes recycling at the national level by publishing brochures that are widely distributed to educate the public about Japan's reliance on overseas imports for a great variety of resources" (Hershkowitz, 26). Young students in 3^rd and 4^th grade are educated about the environmental problems garbage can cause, as well as the benefits that it has which people are usually oblivious or ignorant to. More importantly, parents and other family members are strongly encouraged to set examples for the young minds, and it is believed that over time not sorting and separating one's trash will feel almost unnatural.

Some may argue that there are cultural forces at work with regards to Japan's responsiveness to waste management. But this should not be used as an excuse for Americans to give up trying to achieve the same level of success. According to Veblen's "Sociological Imagination", Hershkowitz's conviction that Japan's success in waste management policies is because "fortunately Japan is an extraordinarily cohesive and responsive society when carrying out government policies, as illustrated by INFORM's conversation with one Japanese citizen" (65) is guilty of committing both the mistakes of grand theorizing and abstract empiricism. There might be some truth in this statement when one observes the homogeneity of Japanese society at length, but considering policies to salvage the declining birth rates for example, can one then say that the Japanese are extraordinarily responsive? Furthermore, substantiating his point with the evidence of a single "conversation with one Japanese citizen" is statistically insignificantly and unconvincing. From this, I argue that instead of attributing the success of government policies to cultural nuances, perhaps we can address the issue from a sociological perspective and consider that people are most often influenced by the forces of society and community. We must first have a system of collecting and processing the waste materials, following which we have to be able to mobilize local community groups and pursue aggressive education policies about recycling. Having these three elements in place, I believe that social pressure will create a vicious cycle where more and more people will be influenced or motivated to recycle.

It is understandable that separating every single item of trash may seem like a daunting and mundane task. Accounts of the Japanese people's experiences further substantiate this fact. The Japanese faced and are still facing problems that Americans can identify with such as that of small homes and little extra space to store recyclables, long work days and busy schedules.

In principle 'separation' and 'accumulation' are the keys to the successful recycling of recyclable waste, including aluminium or steel cans, glass bottles, plastic (PET) bottles, and old paper. The more a household separates wastes and the more of it they stockpile, the more economically feasible the waste collection becomes. This eventually contributes to maintaining a sustainable society. [But] the major obstacle to this principle was (and still is) the small area of Tokyo houses.

(Shibata, 106-107)

The problem is exacerbated for students, young single-salaried workers and families who live in complexes of small apartments that simply do not have enough space for the storage of recyclable waste materials. Furthermore, each household has to put the separated waste on the appropriate designated collection days either in front of the house or take it to the collection center. "This system works in households with full-time housewives or retired senior citizens, but is too troublesome for busy working couples" (Shibata, 107). But instead of dismissing the challenge simply because it appears impossible, Americans should draw strength from the lessons and success of others.

Current waste management situation in the U.S.

In the United States, only about 32 percent of the waste is recycled. The rest goes to incinerator plants or landfills. "Currently, in the United States, 32 percent is recoverd and recycled or composted, 14 percent is burned at combustion facilities, and the remaining 54 percent is disposed of in landfills" (USEPA). "The traditionally used, yet unhealthful, practice of indiscriminately dumping unprocessed municipal waste into landfills is now taking its toll" (Hershkowitz, 1). Toxic materials such as mercury and lead found in unprocessed municipal waste can seriously contaminate the ground and surface water when landfills are used beyond their capacity. Already in most states, landfills have been ordered to close because they have reached their maximum, and it is increasingly difficult to acquire new sites for dumping. The number of landfills in the United States has steadily decreased from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005 (USEPA). The other alternative of incinerating waste also has its unique problems and environmental repercussions as discussed earlier.

Some of the cities that recycle in the U.S. include Portland in Oregon, Palo Alto in California and Chicago in Illinois just to name a few. Chicago introduced the Blue Bag recycling program in 1993, and over the next two years spent about $60 million setting up recycling and transfer stations and $8 million on advertising and public education programs. By 1999, about 25 percent of Chicago's household waste was recycled (Lasoff). However, many of these cities are faced with umpteen interlinked political and economic concerns when dealing with the issue of recycling and waste management. For example, the process of sorting and recycling may be more expensive then simply dumping the trash at landfills, although recycling is comparable in cost to incineration. It is therefore more economical to ignorantly bury everything in landfills and allocate a larger proportion of the municipal budget to other causes.

However, expanding landfills is not a viable long-term solution. In Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, the landfill had expanded beyond its boundaries to the protected wetlands without authorization. The underlying political and economic problem, which is not immediately obvious, is that shutting the dumping facility down costs money. In addition, closing the dump will devastatingly affect the financial situation of already cash-strapped municipalities because they earn revenue from these landfill operations. Furthermore, closing the landfill will mean having to transport the municipal's garbage to other municipals and incurring costs for the transportation and disposal (Albanese, 36).

How the U.S. can learn from Japan

What is the incentive then for the U.S. to begin extensive recycling efforts? Why should household recycling be given priority? The answer is simple; "Recycling gives local governments an alternative to incineration and dumping and allows cities and countries to add years to the life of landfills" (Day, A01). A system of collecting and processing the waste materials must first be established like in the case of Chicago. Following which, I have three recommendations: firstly, we have to be able to mobilize local community groups such as religious groups / communities who have significant influence over its members. The support that such communities provide for its members and the peer pressure that exists are excellent environments for the implementation of waste management policies. It may also be advisable to start in residential suburbs where there is a large percentage of stay-home mothers and retirees. Secondly, it is crucial to pursue aggressive public education policies about recycling through advertising, sending brochures and including the topic as part of the elementary/ middle/ high school curriculum.

Thirdly, we can build enthusiasm about building a town or city that is a personable and homely place to live in. In Japan, there is a concept known as "machi-zukuri", which literally means to build a town, that involves being conscientious about making one's town or city a personable and homely place. This concept was initially used mainly by architects and town-planners, but has now come to mean a kind of community building and development. I believe that if people become passionate about and committed to the place they live in, they will be motivated to create a more pleasant environment they can call home and would be more accepting of new waste management policies.

Having lived in Philadelphia for four years, I would like to suggest additional ways Philadelphia can specifically address this issue of recycling. I believe that university officials can implement sorting and separating rules beginning at the dormitories and college houses of the many universities in the area, such as Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Temple University. Such recycling efforts can already be seen at public universities like Kansas State University that has a very active recycling program. More specifically, if these recycling programs are successful at Penn, it could be adopted by the other Ivy League universities all over the country.

In conclusion, for recycling and waste management to be successful at the household level, it is important to have a system like that of Japan: a system of sorting and separating waste, a system of collecting waste, a system of processing and recycling waste, and a system of educating the public about waste. Mannheim argues that our ideas and social attitudes are not developed by us individually. They come from the physical and social world that limits and controls our potential and desires. Society imposes itself on our psychology and physical state of mind. Similarly for Durkheim, a social fact is "a category of facts which present very special characteristics; they consist of manners of acting, thinking and feeling external to the individual, which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him. Consequently, since they consist of representations and actions, they cannot be confused with organic phenomena, nor with psychical phenomena, which have no existence save in and through the individual consciousness" (Durkheim, 52). Having these elements of systems in place, I believe that society and social pressure will exert its coercive power over individuals and influence or motivate them to recycle.

Works Cited

Albanese, Lorelei. "EPA to close two island dumps-Vaga Baja and Florida solid waste landfills being eliminated; Federal agency expected to shut down more landfills in karst country". Caribbean Business. June 1, 2006. 36.

Day, Kathleen. "Recycling: Higher Price, Lower Priority? City Governments Debating". The Washington Post. March 30, 1997. A Section, A01.

George, Timothy S. Minamata - Pollution and the Struggle for Democracy in Postwar Japan. Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2001.

Hershkowitz, Allen and Salerni, Eugene. Garbage Management in Japan - leading the way. New York: Inform, Inc, 1987.

Lasoff, Melanie A. "Chicago's recycling program in the bag". Waste Age. Vol. 30, Issue 4. April 99.

Osaka City Environmental Management Bureau (OCEMB).

http://www.city.osaka.jp/kankyojigyo/english/waste/waste_05.html.

Accessed on December 6, 2006.

Onishi, Norimitsu, "How Do Japanese Dump Trash? Let Us Count the Myriad Ways". The New York Times. Section A; Column 1; Foreign Desk, 1. May 12, 2005. Vol. 154, Issue 154.

Shibata, Tokue. "Land, waste and pollution: Challenging history in creating a sustainable Tokyo Metropolis." Sustainable Cities - Japanese perspectives on physical and social structures. Chapter 4. Tamagawa, Hidenori, ed. Tokyo, New York and Paris: United Nations University Press, 2006. 96-124.

Yoshida, Fumikazu. The Economics of Waste and Pollution Management in Japan. Tokyo: Springer-Verlag, 2002.

Yoshimura, Teruhiko and Kato, Rika. "Waste management activities in Nagoya City, Japan: Local government and community partnerships." Innovative Communities - People-centred Approaches to Environmental Management in the Asia-Pacific Region. Chapter 10. Jerry Velaquez, Makiko Yashiro, Susan Yoshimura and Izumi Ono, ed. Tokyo, New York and Paris: United Nations University Press, 2005. 225-244.