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, one of the largest industrial cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area, was facing an industrial waste problem. In the 1970s, Kawasaki was a symbol of a polluted city, but in the 2000s, the city began a shift toward urban management centered on environmental revitalization. In the 2000s, however, Kawasaki was forced to make a shift to urban management centered on environmental revitalization.

This was due to the Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-based Society, which came into effect in 2000. This law mandated nationwide reduction of waste, promotion of recycling, and prevention of illegal dumping, requiring local governments to take effective measures. Kawasaki City has been at the forefront of this movement and has made the establishment of a recycling-oriented society a basic policy of the city. Specifically, the city prepared to formulate an ordinance stipulating waste reduction and recycling promotion, and also envisioned the establishment of a fund for the purpose of restoring the status quo of illegal dumping and improving the environment.

The fund was intended to be a mechanism to cover the cost of removing illegal dumping and environmental restoration. It was an institutional framework for citizens and the government to cooperate in environmental restoration, while clarifying the responsibility of industry. For Kawasaki, which had supported its development as an industrial city, this was an attempt to strike a balance between the economy and the environment, and a turning point from the traditional "growth-first" approach to a "sustainability-first" approach.

This move was also linked to the Kawasaki Eco-Town concept, which was being promoted at the same time, and led to a strategy of making the environment a new source of urban competitiveness through the conversion of waste into resources and the fostering of recycling industries. Kawasaki's efforts were a symbolic example of how a once-polluted city was transforming into an "environmentally advanced city.