Kamiiso Town, Hokkaido, "Special Zone for Recycling and Circulation Industry" and its historical background around 2003

Kamiiso Town, Hokkaido, "Special Zone for Recycling and Circulation Industry" and its historical background around 2003

In the early 2000s, Japan's "Special Zones for Structural Reform" were used to nurture the seeds of new industries by establishing special exceptions to regulations tailored to local conditions, and a trade magazine published on February 20, 2003, mentioned the "Kamiiso Town 'Special Zone for Recycling and Circulation Industries' in Hokkaido" as one of the proposed special zones. This was part of a group of initiatives aimed at regional implementation of recycling-based industries, along with the special zone for environmental industries in Omuta City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and the special zone for biofuels in Masuda City, Shimane Prefecture.

At the time, the focus of the special zone proposal was to review regulations that had become bottlenecks for recycling and waste disposal. Specifically, the proposal included a request for "streamlining procedures for permitting facilities according to the properties of waste" under the Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law, and for more flexible operations across current permitting categories (general waste/industrial waste), with the aim of reducing "friction" in the implementation of regional recycling systems. The magazine's aim is to reduce "friction" in the implementation of the local recycling system. The magazine also includes a clause stating that "it is possible to accept waste as long as a permit has been obtained for either a waste treatment facility for general or industrial waste," which resonates with the context of proposals for a "recycling industry" such as the one in Kamiiso Town.

At the top of this trend is the "Special Zones for Structural Reform" system established by the Koizumi Cabinet in 2002. The system was designed as a "regulatory testing ground" where nationwide uniform regulations could be removed on a regional basis, and if successful, could be expanded nationwide. It is positioned as a policy tool to simultaneously promote regional revitalization and regulatory reform.

On February 1, 2006, Kamiiso Town merged with Ono Town to form Hokuto City. Even after the merger, the banner of "resource recycling" was carried on, and Hokuto City has continued its efforts to promote the sophistication of sorting and recycling and citizen participation, including the formulation of a "Regional Plan to Promote the Formation of a Regional Recycling-based Society. The Kamiiso special zone concept can be understood as an attempt in the context of the creation of a recycling-oriented society in the southern region of Hokkaido.

In general, the "Kamiiso Town Special Zone for Recycling and Circulation Industry" was a product of the era of special zones for structural reforms, which sought to revamp the operation of waste disposal licensing and acceptance, and to sprout a "circulation industry" that would create a loop of resources within the region. The policy ideas of the time were reflected in Uiso's proposal: lowering the hurdles for demonstration by streamlining regulations, and moving from regional experiments to national standards.