Kamikatsu, a small town that is located in the mountains of Shikoku Island in south-west Japan, embarked on a rigorous zero-waste programme after 2000, after its waste incinerators were shut down due to emission of vast quantities of greenhouse gases and toxins damaging the environment. Earlier, the residents of Kamikatsu disposed of their trash like other towns did: it was either dumped in nature or burnt at home. However, the town decided to introduce the concept of ‘zero waste’ in 2003. The town now is all set to reach its goal by 2020.
The 1,500-1,700 locals in Kamikatsu segregate their waste into 45 different categories. The residents have to drop it off at the waste collection centre. There are no garbage trucks, and the people have to bring their own trash down to the recycling centre. The waste collection centre features different bins for different kinds of products including newspaper, magazines, cartons, metal caps, plastic bottles, spray cans, aluminium cans, fluorescent lights, and others. Each waste category has its own box for disposal and the residents are expected to put the segregated waste into the right container by themselves. Plastic bags and bottles are to be washed and dried so that recycling would be easier. Though the procedure is complicated, it is to make people environmentally conscious and recycle whatever can be recycled.
The workers at the centre make sure that the trash has been sorted properly. Jewellery, used clothes, and other items that are no longer required are also dropped off at the recycling store and exchanged with items that others have dropped off without any extra cost whatsoever. A local factory located close to the recycling centre creates items from unwanted goods.
The process is difficult and time consuming, especially in today’s modern world of hustle and bustle. The rules are plenty and include tasks such as taking the caps off the bottles and making sure that plastic bottles for soy sauce and cooking oil are kept separate from Pet bottles that had green tea or mineral water. However, the residents now view their trash differently. They are more aware of what they purchase, how they use it, and how they dispose it off. Over the course of 16 years, the town has managed to bring down its amount of waste. It is said to have recycled about 80 per cent of the 286 tonnes of waste produced in 2017. And the town wants to eliminate the remaining 20 per cent that goes to the landfill as well by 2020.