Japans Abfall

Zwei Fallstudien zu Entsorgung und Verwertung aus Shibushi und Kamikatsu

Abstract

Japan’s “3R Initiative” was implemented in 2004. The program aims at reducing, reusing, and recycling waste and is part of a larger package of laws and regulations under the umbrella of waste management and sustainable development. Although “3R” is a national-level initiative, it is up to each municipality to design and implement a specific agenda under this label. Following a qualitative content analysis and drawing from fieldwork conducted in summer 2013, this paper examines the programs used by two Japanese municipalities in order to put the “3R” idea into practice: one case study addresses Shibushi, which has achieved the highest rate of municipal waste recycling of all Japanese cities for seven years in a row, while the other case study focuses on Kamikatsu, a remote village that has become famous for its “zero waste campaign.” It is argued that two factors in particular determine whether the implementation of “3R”-related policies will be successful: first, a municipality will only implement “3R” programs extensively if it has an economic incentive to do so; and second, there is a positive correlation between the average age of the municipality being low and the likelihood of a political reform succeeding in that area.