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The Heat of Ashes Illuminates the City Japan, 1965 to 2025 Incineration power plants are devices that extract another value from the act of processing waste by burning it. The intense heat generated by combustion is converted into steam in boilers, and that steam turns turbines to drive generators. Waste, once burned merely for volume reduction and sanitation, now contributes to powering cities. Mountains of garbage are transformed into energy, unseen. In Japan, waste-to-energy generation is known to have been introduced in 1965 at a factory in Osaka City. Initially, power generation was small-scale, primarily for self-consumption within the facility. However, against the backdrop of energy crises and rising environmental awareness, technological improvements to enhance recovery efficiency progressed. The introduction of high-temperature, high-pressure boilers and innovations in waste heat utilization boosted power generation capacity, enabling the sale of surplus electricity
. Incineration power generation also engages with the local community by supplying heat to surrounding facilities. Steam and hot water are delivered to heated swimming pools, welfare facilities, and district heating systems. This transforms the sanitation plants, once hidden away on the city's periphery, into integral parts of the infrastructure supporting daily life.

However, this system is not a panacea. It relies on a sequence where reuse and resource recovery take priority, with energy recovery occurring only from the remaining combustible waste. The heat generated by burning waste, while a byproduct of processing, is being redefined as part of the urban cycle. The city lit by the heat of ashes has quietly rewritten the boundary between waste and energy.