Candle Night Uses 25,000 Eco-Candles in Fukui Prefecture

Copyright Ikeda city

Ikeda Eco-Candle Executive Committee in Ikeda, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, held the "Ikeda Eco-Candle" event on September 26, 2009. The event involves about 25,000 candles made from waste cooking oil collected from households.

This event has been held on an autumn night every year since 2005 as a part of the "Nanohana (Rape Blossom) Project," a campaign to recycle waste cooking oil. Under the slogan, "10,000 candles unite people's hearts," it aims to send a message to the world. An important aspect of the Eco-Candle event is that everybody takes part in making the candles, so all the candles are made by volunteers.

The wax for the candles is made from waste cooking oil collected from households, while the candle wick is fixed to the base with a milk bottle cap. The waste cooking oil is collected at gas stations, and the milk bottle caps are collected by primary and junior high school students.

This year, 11 groups participated in the event held at an open space in front of Suwa-azuki Shrine and exhibited their works of art. The main attraction of the exhibits, "Mizu-umi no Dengaku Noumai," used some 7,000 candles to portray a traditional performing art of Ikeda Town, representing an important intangible cultural treasure of Japan.

Rural Town Wins 5th Environment Minister's Grand Prix (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026268.html

Posted: 2010/01/05 06:00:15 AM