World's Highest Steel Can Recycling Rate - A Turning Point for a Resource Recycling Society March 1996

World's Highest Steel Can Recycling Rate - A Turning Point for a Resource Recycling Society March 1996
In the mid-1990s, Japanese society was seeking a way out of "mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. After the collapse of the bubble economy, balancing the environment and the economy emerged as a national challenge, and resource reuse and waste reduction were becoming new pillars of industrial policy. In such an era, the news that the recycling rate of steel cans had reached the highest in the world was a symbolic event for both environmental administration and industry.

In the late 1980s, local governments began to establish a sorting and collection system, and in 1991, the Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law was revised to legally promote recycling. In 1995, the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law was enacted, making it mandatory to recycle cans, PET bottles, and paper containers. In 1996, just before the revision of the law, the world's highest recycling rate for steel cans was achieved, which was highly praised as an achievement of policy and citizens' efforts.

At the time, major steelmakers such as Nippon Steel Corporation and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (now Nippon Steel Corporation) had established technologies to reuse recycled steel cans as raw materials for blast furnaces. Can manufacturers also promoted improvements such as making cans lighter and using magnetic materials, and established a "recycling system from collection to reclamation" linked to magnetic separation by local governments. The retail and distribution industry also introduced in-store collection and a recycling cooperation fee system, and with the cooperation of consumers, a recycling culture took root.

At this time, municipalities across Japan were developing "empty can litter prevention ordinances" and "group collection incentive systems," and neighborhood associations and PTAs took charge of collection activities on a regional basis. Environmental education also became more widespread, and school classes where children learn about the recycling process by sorting aluminum and steel cans increased. These grass-roots activities helped shape the "recycling awareness" of society as a whole.

In addition, PR activities led by the Steel Can Recycling Association were also successful. As of 1996, the steel can recycling rate was approximately 80%, higher than in the U.S. and European countries.

This achievement was not just a technological feat, but symbolized a change in social structure. Recycling was no longer an "environmental movement" but was beginning to function as "social infrastructure," and Japan had reached a turning point toward a "recycling-oriented society. Japan's efforts were also introduced at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the success of steel can recycling became an example of how resource recycling technology can support economic sustainability.

The 1996 "World No. 1" was a moment that proved that it is possible to integrate environmental conservation and industrial technology. This system, established through the concerted efforts of business, citizens, and government, was later passed on to the Home Appliance Recycling Law and the Automobile Recycling Law, and has become the foundation for Japan's proud status as an advanced recycling nation in the 21st century.