From the Street Corner of Resource Recycling -- Chiba City's Recycling Revolution, April 1995

From the Street Corner of Resource Recycling -- Chiba City's Recycling Revolution, April 1995

In 1995, Chiba City was a city that was fundamentally rethinking the way municipalities deal with waste. The era of mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal had come to an end, and Japanese society was searching for a new form of circulation. Chiba City led the way in this quest, taking on the challenge of becoming a "resource-recycling city.

The city has been thoroughly separating paper, plastic, bottles, cans, and other materials for collection. At recycling stations set up in each area, citizens sorted and brought in their own materials. The scene was not just a place for waste disposal, but also functioned as a "city contact point" where the environmental awareness of the community intersected.

What is noteworthy is the collaboration not only with the government but also with private businesses. A mechanism was established to promote the efficiency of the recycling process and to recycle "waste" as a resource back into society. This stance of not relying on incineration or landfill was an unusual decision at a time when incinerators were being expanded nationwide.

Behind this decision was the momentum for the introduction of ISO14000 and the anticipation of the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law. In addition, the pressing need for a disposal facility was also a driving force behind Chiba City's decision. The figure of 1.7 years as the average remaining life of the landfill forced the administration to take sustainable measures.

Above all, citizens' awareness was beginning to change. A new sense of value, that "we should reduce waste ourselves," was becoming widespread, and along with the practice of sorting garbage, a trend toward incorporating the environment into one's lifestyle itself was budding.

Chiba City's experiment was a practical site of circulation, where the government, residents, and businesses intersected. In 1995, the entrance to a sustainable society was indeed open on that street corner.