Biomass use in Ogawa Town, Saitama Prefecture and Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture - An early model of budding regional circulation - around 2004

Biomass use in Ogawa Town, Saitama Prefecture and Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture - An early model of budding regional circulation - around 2004

In the early 2000s, Japan adopted the "Biomass Nippon Comprehensive Strategy" (approved by the Cabinet in 2002), which aimed to create a society in which unused biomass is utilized locally. As the concept of decentralized energy and a recycling-oriented society spread, local governments tried their own resource circulation models. The former Aito Town in Shiga Prefecture and Ogawa Town in Saitama Prefecture are symbolic of such efforts.

In Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture, the "Nanohana (rape blossom) Eco Project" began in 1998, and a system was established to complete the entire process of rapeseed cultivation, oil pressing, edible use, waste cooking oil collection, and conversion to soap and biodiesel fuel (BDF) within the community. In 2005, the "Aito Eco-Plaza Nanohana-Kan" was opened as a center for oil recycling and environmental education. Efforts to convert waste cooking oil collected from households and schools into BDF and recycled soap and sell it as the local brand "Nanobana" attracted national attention.

Meanwhile, in Ogawa-machi, Saitama Prefecture, a demonstration experiment to reuse food and paper waste through methane fermentation was conducted against the backdrop of organic farming practices, with the NPO "Ogawa-machi Climate Utilization Center" playing a central role in establishing a mechanism to circulate biogas-based power generation and heat use within the community. The recovery of waste cooking oil and the conversion of waste to soap were also promoted, making the most of local resources while minimizing environmental impact.

These two cases are early examples of successful collaboration between local governments, residents, and NPOs to create a resource cycle, and later served as prototypes for the "biomass town" concept and the "regional recycling symbiosis zone. This experiment, which began in a rural area, was an early indication of the direction of Japan's environmental policy, which is the coexistence of renewable energy and local economies.