Kawasaki - From Industrial City to Recycling-Oriented Society - Perspectives in 2002

Kawasaki - From Industrial City to Recycling-Oriented Society - Perspectives in 2002

In 2002, Kawasaki was facing an industrial waste problem as one of the largest industrial cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. While the coastal area, where petrochemical complexes and heavy chemical industries were concentrated during the period of rapid economic growth and supported the Japanese economy, it also became a hotbed of air and water pollution, and was so serious that it was called a "polluted city" in the 1970s. In the 2000s, however, the city of Kawasaki was forced to make a shift to urban management based on environmental revitalization. The Basic Act on Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society, which came into effect in 2000, required local governments to take responsibility for waste reduction, recycling, and the prevention of illegal dumping. Kawasaki City prepared to formulate an ordinance, focusing on the promotion of recycling and the prevention of illegal dumping, and planned to establish a fund to support the restoration of illegal dumping and env
ironmental improvement. This was designed to clarify the responsibility of industry and to encourage citizens and the government to work together for environmental revitalization. The plan was also linked to the Kawasaki Eco-Town concept, which was designed to make the environment a new source of urban competitiveness through the development of a waste recycling and resource recovery industry. Kawasaki's transformation from a pollution-causing city to an environmentally advanced city was a symbolic attempt to reflect the turning point of the times.