Cities that Collapse and Connect: The Turning Point from Construction Waste to a Recycling Society (2000)

Cities that Collapse and Connect: The Turning Point from Construction Waste to a Recycling Society (2000)

In 2000, Japanese cities were quietly beginning to change their appearance. As demolition of dilapidated buildings proceeded in many areas, and in the Tokyo metropolitan area, huge amounts of construction demolition waste were piling up as demolition became an everyday scene. The Ministry of Construction estimates that 55 million tons will be generated in the Tokyo metropolitan area alone by 2025. The recycling rate is 65 percent concrete and 40 percent wood. Behind the numbers, there is a widespread loss of resources that are not sorted and are thrown away in the mix.

In response to this situation, the government urged the introduction of sorted demolition. If building materials are dismantled by type, they can be easily reused. However, this requires cost and labor, and is also a burden for small and medium-sized enterprises. Amidst the demand for institutional support, Japan's waste administration was facing a turning point.

Behind this was the urban structure of mass construction since the 1950s, followed by scrap-and-build. The Waste Disposal and Public Cleaning Law was revised in 1991, followed by the Basic Environment Law in 1993, the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law in 1995, ISO 14001 in 1997, and the Basic Law for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society in 2000. The system was put in place. The system was in place, and "recycling" was finally taking root as an idea.

In this year, Japan was entering a new phase of building a vision of the future city while destroying the memory of the city. Demolition is not the end. How will we draw a blueprint for a society that begins there? This question was quietly rising from the rubble.