Keep it clean: Towns, cities in Japan producing least waste ranked, survey

Ahead of a period of awareness raising and campaigns as part of June as Environment Month in Japan, a ministry report has ranked those towns and cities across Japan that are doing their bit to reduce waste. 

Kyoto City, Kakegawa City (Shizuoka Prefecture), and Kawakami Village (Nagano Prefecture) were ranked as the municipalities generating the least amount of waste per person according to a survey report by the Ministry of the Environment. 

On March 29 the ministry released the results of a nationwide survey on the status of general waste discharge and disposal in Japan for FY2020.

"The total amount of waste generated across Japan was 41.67 million tons, an amount in size equivalent to around 112 times the size of Tokyo Dome."

The total amount of waste (general and human waste - not including industrial waste) generated across Japan was 41.67 million tons, an amount in size equivalent to around 112 times the size of Tokyo Dome, according to the report.  

The figure represents a decrease in total waste of 2.5 percent from the previous year when 42.74 million tons were generated. The generation of waste had largely been on a steady decline since 2011 when the amount generated was 45.43 million tons. A decrease of 2.5 percent represents the largest year-on-year decrease since then.

The amount of waste generated by individuals in Japan throughout FY2020 amounted to 901 grams per person per day, compared to 918 grams the previous year. 

Of the total amount of waste generated, 30.02 million tons came from domestic waste and 11.65 million tons from commercial waste, with domestic waste accounting for approximately 72 percent of the total.

The total volume of recycled materials in FY2020, including materials recycled by municipalities and collected by residents' groups, was 8.33 million tons, representing a recycling rate of 20 percent. 

The ministry’s report also included a ranking of the top 10 cities, towns and villages getting to grips with the 3Rs - reducing, reusing and recycling. The rankings were broken down into municipalities with a population of less than 100,000, from 100,000 to less than 500,000, and those with a population of 500,000 and over.  

In terms of the least waste generated per person per day for municipalities with a population of less than 100,000, the village of Kawakami (Kawakami-son) in Nagano Prefecture ranked as generating the least at 332.2 grams of waste per person per day. Six of the top 10 municipalities in this category were located in Nagano Prefecture. 

For municipalities with a population from 100,000 to less than 500,000 Kakegawa City (Kakegawa-shi) in Shizuoka Prefecture was top with a per person per day waste generation of 616.1 grams. Municipalities in Tokyo accounted for eight of the top 10 least waste generators with Hino City and Koganei City ranking second and third respectively.  

Kakegawa City was selected as an SDGs Future City in 2020 by the Cabinet Office for its initiatives to achieve sustainable development goals. The city is also one of a number of municipalities in Japan using waste collection bags on which residents are encouraged to write their name.  While the system is intended to encourage residents to take better ownership of the waste they generate it has raised concerns regarding privacy.    

Kyoto City (Kyoto-shi) ranked top as the city whose residents were producing the least amount of waste per person in the category of municipalities with a population of 500,000 and over. Per person per day waste generation stood at 758.9 grams in FY2020, according to the report. Matsuyama (Ehime Prefecture) and Hachioji (Tokyo) ranked second and third respectively. 

Kyoto City encourages residents to take part in a nama gomi san kiri initiative (生ごみ3キリ運動), an effort to reduce raw household waste such as foodstuffs by encouraging people to buy only the amount of food they need, store food properly in order to avoid waste, and plan recipes that avoid creating leftovers, among others.

The initiative also includes a certification system under which restaurants and lodging facilities are invited to apply for and be certified as establishments that promote nama gomi san kiri with regard to the food they serve. 

Only since 2012 have population statistics used to compile the survey rankings included foreign residents, according to the report. (Without stating why, it leaves us wondering if the often documented struggles foreign residents have faced in understanding what appear to be complicated garbage separation rules in Japan were upsetting the averages too much!)

The ministry’s survey report has arrived in plenty of time to provide some background reading ahead of a series of spring / summer dates in Japan, and around the world, raising awareness about the state of the environment.  

May 30 is known by some in Japan as Zero Litter Day, or “gomi zero no hi” (ごみゼロの日). The nomenclature is derived from the date itself - “go” from “gogatsu” (5 / May), “mi” from “mitsu” (3), “zero” from the zero in the date.  

Zero Litter Day in Japan has its roots in a local initiative launched in Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, in 1975, which encouraged people to pick up their own trash. Known at the time as the 530 Movement, the Toyohashi initiative developed into collaborations between public and private sector entities, with the movement eventually spreading throughout Japan. 

Today, Zero Litter Day is also a precursor to Environment Month in Japan. During the month of June a number of events and initiatives are held across the country in order to raise awareness of the importance of environmental conservation and to serve as calls to action. June was designated as Environment Month by Japan’s Environmental Agency in FY1991.  

Along with Zero Litter Day, related events over the next month or so in Japan will center on the United Nations-designated World Environment Day (June 5) and World Ocean Day (June 8).  

"The first Zero Marine Litter Week in Japan took place in May 2019 and saw around 430,000 people take part in clean-up activities."

Within this period, from May 28 to June 12, Japan holds the Spring Zero Marine Litter Week during which volunteers, often sporting the blue color that is a symbol of the campaign, take part in cleanup events at beaches and rivers across Japan. The first Zero Marine Litter Week in Japan took place in May 2019 and saw around 430,000 people take part in clean-up activities, according to the Ministry of the Environment. 

The campaign is included in Japan’s National Action Plan for Marine Plastic Litter which the country has submitted as a partner nation in the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision - framework set by G20 nations with the aim to reduce additional pollution by marine plastic litter to zero by 2050. 

The amount of plastic in the oceans (by weight) was predicted to exceed the amount of fish by 2050, according to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum. 

If you're taking part in any initiatives or events as part of Environment Month or World Environment Day 2022, let us know in the comments.