Neighbors Across the Sea - Tokunoshima and Kikai Town, Dialogue on Recycling Facilities (2002)

Neighbors Across the Sea - Tokunoshima and Kikai Town, Dialogue on Recycling Facilities (2002)

In early 2002, the chiefs of the Amami Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture gathered in a conference room with a heavy agenda. On the agenda was the location of recycling processing facilities in the islands. In particular, the tension between Tokunoshima Town and Kikai Town, which had long been simmering under the surface, had now come to the surface.

The time has just come when the "Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-based Society" has come into effect. In urban areas, the momentum for waste reduction is growing, and individual laws such as the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law and the Home Appliance Recycling Law are beginning to be developed. As the whole of Japan sought to shift from mass consumption to "resource recycling," there was a movement afoot to apply these systems to remote islands as well.

However, remote islands present unique difficulties. They have geographical limitations separated by oceans, limited budgets, small populations, and poor means of transportation. For example, it cost more than 8,000 yen just to collect and transport one refrigerator on Amami Oshima. Nevertheless, the net of the law extends to the outlying islands, and in 2001, a meeting of the chiefs of the Amami Islands raised the idea of consolidating recycling-related facilities on one of the islands in the archipelago, resulting in a conflict of interest among the islands.

The chiefs of the Amami Islands met in 2001 to discuss the idea of consolidating recycling facilities on one of the islands, and their interests clashed. Is that really fair?" --A representative of the town of Tokunoshima said at the meeting, "If we put a facility on our island, we will have to dispose of waste from the other islands. Some residents questioned whether they should accept a burden that exceeded the processing capacity of their own island.

On the other hand, a representative from Kikai Town said, "If the islands don't compromise with each other, they will always be burdened with expensive transportation costs. Now is the time to take advantage of the subsidies. Kikai Island is geographically closer to the center of the island and was positive about the construction of the facility, but many residents were concerned about the image of the island as an "island that takes on waste" and the risk of contamination in the future.

Behind these discussions lies the existence of the "Remote Islands Development Law. This law was enacted in 1953 and established a framework for the central and prefectural governments to provide support in consideration of the unique conditions of remote islands (narrowness, isolation, and maritime encirclement). 2002 saw discussions of extending the law, and it was expected that the next extension would include the "creation of a recycling-oriented society. Therefore, there was a shared sense of urgency among the leaders that creating a system of circulation within the region now would lead to the continuation of support in the future.

However, reaching agreement was not easy. An environmental impact assessment is also required for the construction of the facility, and without the understanding of the local community, the plan will not move forward. Furthermore, on an island that generates so little waste, building the facility may not have been profitable. On islands with a thriving tourism industry, there was also a strong concern about "tarnishing the island's image.

In this way, the controversy over the recycling facility was not merely a matter of administrative talk, but a major dialogue involving the residents' sense of life, the nature of self-governance, and even their vision for the future.

In the spring of 2002, Tokunoshima and Kikai continued to sit at the same table, each with its own logic and justice. Neighbors separated by the sea, they were searching for a sustainable community between the environment, economy, and pride.