Kitakyushu Eco-Town Project - January 2000

Kitakyushu Eco-Town Project - January 2000

In Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, a large-scale project to combine environmental conservation and industrial promotion is underway as part of the Eco-Town concept launched in 1997. In particular, companies such as Nissan Motor Co. and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation have joined forces to establish a plant for dismantling ELVs. At this plant, approximately 1,000 end-of-life vehicles are processed annually, from which two tons per day of valuable resources such as aluminum, iron, and copper are recovered and reused. Aluminum is reused as a raw material for automobile parts and beverage cans, forming a resource-recycling industrial model.

Furthermore, this project is central to Kitakyushu's efforts to become a "zero-emission city," with the goal of reusing at least 95% of its waste by 2035. Innovation in recycling technology is being promoted not only at waste treatment facilities, but also in collaboration with universities and research institutes in the region.

In particular, a state-of-the-art recycling facility has been established in the Hibikinada area of Kitakyushu City in collaboration with Mitsubishi Materials, where a diverse range of waste, including electronics and building materials, are processed and approximately 5,000 tons of resources are reused annually. This eco-town concept has received high acclaim both in Japan and abroad, and is attracting attention as a new waste treatment model that balances environmental protection and local economic revitalization.