Kyoto City to Test Fish Containers for Experimental Resource Recycling

Kyoto City plans to start a demonstration test this summer (2003) that aims to establish a resource recycling system for the production, use and collection biodegradable plastic fish containers, which will further be transformed into biomass energy. The city has set aside a budget of approximately 70 million yen (about U.S.$588,235) for this purpose.

At Kyoto City Central Wholesale Market, wholesalers kill the live fish brought to the market and put them Styrofoam containers that they must purchase before selling the fish to retailers. The boxes that will be used in this experiment are the so-called "flat boxes," mainly used for fish such as sharp-toothed eel, halibut, and flounder. About 1,000 of these boxes are used every day, or 24,000 a year, accounting for 3 percent of the boxes used in the market.

End-of-life biodegradable plastic boxes will be recovered at a certain place in the market, and transported to a biogas technology research plant in Fushimi Ward in Kyoto City, where they will be mixed with vegetable waste and other biomass materials for fermentation and extraction of methane gases, which will then be used for electricity production and heat exchange.

Kyoto Central Wholesale Market is Japan's first public market, established in 1927. Kyoto focused on the fact that about 45 percent of the 200,000 tons of Styrofoam products produced annually are used for fish containers. By experimenting at a municipal wholesale market that uses fish containers, the City aims to create momentum for the use of biodegradable plastic at other wholesale markets and localities. High costs have prevented the rapid diffusion of biodegradable plastics so far. The City also hopes to contribute to the reduction of fossil resources use and carbon dioxide emissions.



Posted: 2003/04/29 10:10:03 AM
Japanese version