Aiming for "local production for local consumption" of food waste: Higashimurayama City's Challenge" - September 1998

Aiming for "local production for local consumption" of food waste: Higashimurayama City's Challenge" - September 1998

In the late 1990s, at a time when the concept of a "recycling-oriented society" was being discussed in many parts of Japan and the way waste disposal was being reexamined, the city of Higashimurayama in Tokyo embarked on a progressive experiment. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, where urbanization is progressing, Higashimurayama City attempted an "urban-type local production for local consumption" recycling model in which leftover food from school lunches and household garbage are composted, and farmers in the city use the compost to grow vegetables.

At the time, the incineration of food waste was a serious problem for municipalities nationwide. Because of the high water content of food waste, its combustion efficiency was poor, increasing the burden on incinerators. In addition, with the 1997 Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins, incinerators were required to be more efficient, and many municipalities were faced with the costly task of upgrading their incinerators. Against this background, composting was attracting attention as an alternative treatment method to incineration.

Higashimurayama City's efforts go beyond mere "recycling. First of all, the city decided to target leftover food from schools in order to create a link with education. Students learn what happens to leftover school lunch, learn about the composting process, and participate in the cycle of eating the vegetables they grew for school lunch again. This was intended to combine environmental education with hands-on experience.

The composting process was carried out using the "BioRunner," a high-speed fermentation processor. This equipment utilizes the power of microorganisms to produce safe compost in a short period of time. This equipment was leased by the city and installed in condominium complexes. The concept of converting food waste from "garbage to be disposed of" to "local resource" was still new at the time, but it steadily gained support.

The compost was then used by farmers in the city to cultivate vegetables. A new value for urban agriculture was born. For urban farmers, having a nearby source of organic resources was advantageous in terms of cost and quality control, and the concept of "regional recycling-oriented agriculture" became a reality.

This model of collaboration among citizens, educational institutions, farmers, and government was exactly one of the solutions to the "balance between the environment and the economy" that Japanese society was seeking in the late 1990s. In an era of mass consumption and mass disposal, this experiment in a small city was a significant practice that would later become a precursor to a recycling-oriented society.