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  Channel NewsAsia 19 Feb 07
Tokyo promotes recycling culture to deal with industrial waste
By Channel NewsAsia's Japan Bureau Chief Michiyo Ishida

TOKYO : Tokyo may be an exciting, glittering city but look more closely and you will see a city overwhelmed by its industrial waste.

With a population of 12.6 million, the Japanese capital is going all out to reuse and recycle. A 16 hectare piece of reclaimed land along Tokyo Bay is home to a US$80 billion project called Tokyo Super Eco Town. Eleven private firms specialising in different ways of recycling have been chosen to operate there.

There are a number of reasons for the launch of this project. Waste disposal in Tokyo has reached it limit, so one-fourth of its industrial waste are said to be disposed outside the capital.

Meanwhile, it is expected that a number of buildings of the 1960s will be demolished, leading to a higher volume of industrial waste.

Bioenergy is one of the firms operating there. Toshio Mogi, Plant Manager, Bioenergy, said, "Until now, foodstuff have been reused as compost, fertiliser and feed for livestock. Those were the main items. But Tokyo is a big city, and there aren't farmlands, or livestock. So we don't need to reuse them."

Instead, Bioenergy is converting foodstuff into energy in the form of methane gas. From this January, the firm has been selling two-thirds of the energy it has produced to Tokyo Electric Power company, while using the rest to operate its own factory.

A gigantic plant claims to be one of the largest in Japan specialising in recycling. Tokyo Water Front Recycle Plant is financed by Tokyo Electric Power Company and a number of other firms.

Industrial waste such as plastics, textiles and chips are divided into combustibles and non- combustibles. The combustibles are placed in a gas burner of up to 550 degrees Celsius and converted into energy. The plant produces enough power for 155,000 households. The non-combustibles are used as construction materials.

Tokyo produces some 20 million tons of industrial waste and the Metropolitan Government is eager to recycle as much of it as possible. Tokyo has a major goal - it wants to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

One of the major requirements stipulated by the International Olympic Committee for the Olympic Games is to be environmentally friendly, and so Tokyo is aiming to be so.

Hidehisa Ido, Senior Director, Waste Management, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, said, "We're trying to make Tokyo a hi-tech environmental city. Compared to 2000, we aim to cut CO2 emission by 25 percent by 2020, and launch the carbon-minus Tokyo 10-year project."

With these facilities in place, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government aims to recycle over 90 percent of its industrial waste. - CNA/ms
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