Matsuyama City (Ehime Prefecture), Kinko's Town (Okayama Prefecture) - Carbonization Plant Installation Case Study and Its Historical Background

Matsuyama City (Ehime Prefecture), Kinko's Town (Okayama Prefecture) - Carbonization Plant Installation Case Study and Its Historical Background
In the early 2000s, the Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-based Society was enacted in 2000, and individual laws such as the Food Recycling Law, the Construction Recycling Law, and the Home Appliance Recycling Law were also enacted in rapid succession. The background to this was the problem of massive waste disposal following the collapse of the bubble economy and the tightening of final disposal sites, which prompted a policy shift from waste "processing" to "resource recycling.

In 2002, Carbotech, based in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, took up the challenge of commercializing waste treatment using carbonization technology, and in collaboration with Ishikawa Industry of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, installed a plant for carbonizing pruning branches in Kinko-cho, Okayama Prefecture, and started an experiment to convert wood waste into high-value-added materials and fuel by carbonizing it. In December of the same year, a carbonization plant for waste wood was also installed in Kyoto City, and the company has been expanding its business in both urban and rural areas.

This technology not only reduced the volume of waste, but also opened up a new market by making it possible to sell the byproducts as dioxin adsorbents for incineration facilities and moisture absorbents, which are in demand by the private sector. At a time when the dioxin problem was causing social unrest, demand for adsorbents was high, and the technology attracted attention as an effort to simultaneously realize pollution prevention and resource recycling. It is also important to note that the installation was carried out in collaboration with local government and local companies, and was regarded as a model case for both revitalizing local industry and reducing environmental impact.

This trend was in line with the promotion of the Environment Agency to the Ministry of the Environment in 2001, and with the national government's efforts to build a recycling-oriented society. The introduction of the carbonization plant was a pioneering attempt to change waste from an "environmental risk" to a "resource," and was part of a regional effort to create a sustainable society.