Industrial Waste Going to Landfill Hits Record Low in FY 2001

In March 2004, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment released the results of its surveys on the discharge and treatment of industrial waste in fiscal 2001. The results show that the total amount of industrial waste was about 400 million tons, down 1.4 percent from the previous year. They also show that the amount of waste sent to final disposal sites was a record low of about 42 million tons, a decrease of three million tons from the previous year.

Of the 400 million tons of waste, 43.8 percent was handled with waste reduction methods, such as crushing and sorting, 45.8 percent was recycled, and 10.4 percent was sent to final disposal sites. The ratio was about the same as the previous year.

The amount of waste from the top six of 11 major industries accounted for 80 percent of the total. The utility industry, including power, gas, heat and water supply companies, generated the largest amount, at 93.14 million tons, or 23.3 percent of the total. The top three categories of industrial waste were sludge (186.9 million tons), animal excrement (90.09 million tons), and rubble (57.1 million tons), and these accounted for about 80 percent of the total. As for the recycling ratio, about 95 percent of animal excrement was recycled, showing the highest rate. By contrast, only eight percent of sludge was recycled.

Existing landfill sites are expected to reach full capacity in 4.3 years on a national basis, but if industrial waste generated in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas was sent to the landfills within each of these areas (instead of the current practice of transporting it elsewhere), only 1.1 years and 2.2 years will be left, respectively.

The government set the waste reduction target at the end of September 1999, saying it aims to reduce the amount of industrial waste sent to final disposal sites to 31 million tons in fiscal 2010.



Posted: 2004/07/08 10:54:53 AM
Japanese version