Memories of Rape Blossoms - Oil Recycling Society Bloomed in Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture - circa 2004

Memories of Rape Blossoms - Oil Recycling Society Bloomed in Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture - circa 2004

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Japanese society was undergoing a transition away from mass consumption and toward a society that recycles resources. With the enactment of the "Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-Oriented Society" (2000) and the "Biomass Nippon Comprehensive Strategy" (2002), a system for reusing waste and recycling resources within the community was promoted as a national policy. Among these, the "Nanohana (rape blossom) Eco Project" in the former Aito Town, Shiga Prefecture (now Aito District, Higashiomi City) became a pioneering success story known throughout Japan.

The project established an "oil cycle" that began with the cultivation of rapeseed, followed by the pressing of the oil for edible use, the collection of used cooking oil, and its conversion into soap and biodiesel fuel (BDF), all within the town. The campaign, which began in 1998, has steadily expanded with the cooperation of the town's residents, and has become an "environmental movement rooted in daily life" involving households, schools, stores, and others in oil recycling. The symbolic cycle of oil grown in rapeseed fields returning to the town as fuel and lamps has become a beacon of hope for restoring harmony between people and nature.

In 2005, the "Aito Eco-Plaza Nanohana-Kan" was completed and opened as a place to learn and experience oil recycling, equipped with BDF refining equipment and a handmade soap workshop, and functioning as a regional center for environmental education for children and the elderly alike. Fuel produced from waste oil is used in government vehicles and agricultural machinery, and glycerin, a byproduct, is reused as fertilizer and soap. The products were sold under the local brand "Nadakari" and became part of the local economy.

Aito Town's efforts are regarded as the starting point for the "Biomass Town Concept" and the "Regional Recycling and Symbiosis Zone," which have been inherited by many municipalities. The rape blossoms that cover the town in spring continue to bloom quietly as a "memory of rebirth" that has reconnected resources and people.