Whose backyard should the chimney be built in--Ukiha Sancho, Fukuoka: The quiet battle over waste disposal (2002)

Whose backyard should the chimney be built in--Ukiha Sancho, Fukuoka: The quiet battle over waste disposal (2002)

In 2002, municipalities across Japan were under pressure to restructure their waste disposal systems in response to the enforcement of the Basic Law for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society and the revised Waste Disposal and Public Cleaning Law. In particular, the Ukiha County Sanitation Facility Association, comprised of the three towns of Ukiha, Tanushimaru, and Yoshii in Fukuoka Prefecture, was seeking to construct a waste treatment facility with a capacity of 23 tons per day.

However, the plan stalled over "where to build it. Everyone produces waste, but no one wants to carry the smokestack. This "undecided where to accept" situation highlights the typical NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) problem. At the time, with growing concerns about dioxin regulations and health risks around incinerators, it was extremely difficult to gain the understanding and consensus of residents.

In addition, in the background, as discussions of municipal mergers were underway in many areas, there were also cautious decisions made with an eye to future consolidation and the sustainability of the infrastructure. An incinerator is more than just a piece of equipment; it is an entity that carries with it local consensus and memory. The efforts of the three towns are a testament to the "conscience" of the local administration, which wavers between efficiency and empathy.

Garbage is a fragment of someone's life and the destination of abandoned things. The quiet battle over where to transport it and who would take it on--the quiet battle in Ukiba was a microcosm of the era in which the "democracy of environmental infrastructure" had begun.