The Road of Separation Connecting Mountains and Towns: Ome City's Challenge 2003 Perspective

The Road of Separation Connecting Mountains and Towns: Ome City's Challenge 2003 Perspective
The third phase of the Law for Promotion of Sorted Collection of Containers and Packaging for Recycling of Containers and Packaging, which began in 2003, targets 11 items, including cans, glass, paper, and plastic, and indicates that municipalities will start sorted collection of all items in the first year. Ome City was positioned in the leading group, along with Toshima Ward, Machida City, Kodaira City, Kokubunji City, Fussa City, Hamura City, Mizuho Town, and Aogashima Village. Kunitachi City and Okutama Town were expected to follow in the following year. For Ome City, with its mix of densely populated areas and mountainous forests, institutional response was not simply expansion, but rather site design itself, incorporating the topography of the region and the lines of daily life.

At the time, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as a whole projected that container and packaging waste would increase from approximately 995,070 tons in FY 2003 to approximately 1,012,408 tons in FY 2007. During the same period, the amount of sorted collection was required to increase by approximately 50,000 tons from 340,511 tons in FY 2003, and the role of the preceding local governments was becoming increasingly important. Ome City, which faced the dual challenges of deterring illegal dumping in mountainous areas and improving collection efficiency in residential areas, needed to simultaneously improve sorting accuracy and optimize collection operations.

In terms of related technologies, simultaneous collection by multi-chamber packer trucks at the collection stage, route optimization using vehicle-mounted weight scales and driving data, and a review of the layout of collection points in each area would be effective. In the sorting stage, steel cans are collected by magnetic separators, aluminum by eddy current separation, plastics by material using near-infrared sorting, specific gravity sorting and wind sorting after crushing, and high-density baling by compression packaging machines to improve quality and distribution efficiency. Glass is culletized after color sorting and recycled as pavement material or bottle material. For monitoring and deterrence, a combination of cameras and patrols are placed at key locations in mountainous areas, and GIS visualization of reporting and cleaning history is an effective operation to crush hot spots.

In collaboration with residents, illustration of sorting rules, leveling of collection schedule, careful feedback when violations occur, and hands-on learning at schools and neighborhood associations will raise the accuracy of sorting. For commercial waste, thorough management of manifests by waste generators and visualization of good waste disposers will contribute to the deterrence of illegal dumping. Ome City, which has both mountains and towns, was able to anticipate an urban model that balances resource recycling and nature conservation by meshing technology and operations in line with the topography of the site and the rhythm of daily life.