Kamikatsu is a small town located about 40 kilometeres from the city of Tokushima in Japan. Kamikatsu has emerged as one of the first eco-villages in the world. It is one of the first few towns in Japan to make a zero-waste declaration. Japan mainly uses the 3R's: Recycle, Reduce and Re-use) principle as its waste management policy whereas this small town uses the 5R'S: Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Refuse and Repurpose for ensuring zero waste.
Kamikatsu is called miracle town for its extraordinary work in the field of waste management. It also follows the European model of EPR (Extended Producer Responsility), as discussed under the Zer-Waste Accreditation system 2016. Japan's Packaging Recycling Act, 1995 outlines the roles and responsibilities of the producing industry and the municipalities.
Food waste - Food waste is a global concern and no longer just a nation's issue. According to the reports, one-third of the food produced globally ends up as waste. Generated waste also reflects the amount of capital, labour and energy uses to produce it in first place. Consumers are key contributors towards the waste generation, much more than food manufacturers, retailers, distributors and the food service sectors. Governments worldwide have been tackling the issue of waste management and trying to find innovative solutions to reduce waste generation by manipulating participation by the concerned populations.
Need - It is important to appreciate the steps and programmes taken up by the Municipality of Kamikatsu, a small town in the South Japan, and their efforts to becoming one of the first eco-villages in the world. It is also significant to assess the importance of various schemes and public participation towards fulfilment of the Zero-waste Goal. The thesis is derived by literature review of Zero-waste declaration 2003, Zero-waste accreditation 2016, subsidising composters and other tools used by the municipality of Kamikatsu.
Zero Waste Declaration, 2003
Like the remainder of the world, this small town in South Japan was dumping waste into landfills and incinerating maximum of the city's waste. Heath and environmental concerns associated with burning waste were recognised and led to the shut-down of the landfills. With rising population and exponential increase in amount of waste, using lanfills became inefficient and hazardous for the environment. Shutting down of landfills put enormous pressure on the Municipality to find alternative ways and measure to tackle with waste. In 2003, Kamikatsu adopted a zero-waste declaration. The declaration set a target to send zero waste to landfills for incineration by 2020. The concept of zero waste is used to describe a process that has the potential to eradicate waste.
