Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: Solid wastes are a huge problem throughout the world. In Japan, a surprising amount of the trash comes from a nearly universal trend for companies and stores to overpackage their goods. That is because part of the Japanese culture, they prefer their gifts elaborately wrapped.

     Policies and measures: In an attempt to reduce garbage, the Japanese government has adopted an economic policy measure aimed at more sensible packaging. This would make people realize that the garbage disposal is not the sole responsibility of the local government, but individual households and private businesses must also share the burden.

Background:

      Pay as you throw deflates throw-away society

      Japan's ever growing garbage is posing a big environmental problem. Japanese urban residents in 1992 threw away about 37.6 million tonnes of garbage or more than 1.1 kg per Person per day according to a report by the Japanese Association of City Mayors JACM). This is an increase of nearly 40 per cent over 10 years.

      The real culprit behind Japan's rising tide of garbage is the excessive amount of wrapping and packaging used by manufacturers. Packaging offered by Japanese shops is unparalleled in other nations. For example, it is not unusual to find gift cartons of biscuits individually wrapped inside their boxes, nestled in corrugated papers inside a plastic bag in a tin or box, covered with wrapping paper and presented in a shopping bag. Basic grocery items like fruits, even single carrots, often come individually wrapped in cellophane.

      The retail industry in Japan has started showing environmental concerns and taking steps in this regard. For example, Isetan is trying to cut the amount of paper wrapping to one third in 1994. The Tokyo branch of British cosmetics chain the Body Shop - has gone a step further - it doesn't wrap anything. Nevertheless, in Japan's tradition and gift culture, it is sometimes difficult to avoid excessive packaging. Japanese want their gifts elaborately wrapped. So, the shop owners are trying to meet their customer's wishes while taking a more environmentally responsible steps towards packaging, but according to some shop owners, it is not always easy to strike a balance. One effective way of tackling wrapping waste and promoting environmentally friendly attitudes would be to tax companies.

      Japan has 616 garbage dumps with a total capacity of 335 million cubic metres. However, most of them are about 65 per cent full and are likely to reach saturation within another six years. Most of Japan's rubbish is dumped on land but an unknown quantity is also washed out by rivers to the sea. Japanese scientists had to place satellite-linked buoys around the country to help trace the destination of garbage drifting into the Pacific.

      Faced with such problems, the Japanese government is searching for ways of reducing the amount of rubbish thrown by the households. The JACM is pushing the idea of a pay-as-you throw system whereby consumers pay to have their rubbish collected. A consumer-pay system forces people to think carefully before throwing rubbish. This would make people realize that the garbage disposal is not the sole responsibility of the local government, but individual households and private businesses must also share the burden.

      Out of 663 cities accounting for about 80 per cent of the Japanese population, only 53 cities have adopted the system and currently levy a charge for garbage collection, but many others are considering to introduce the system. One city that introduced the consumer-pay-system reduced the amount of garbage by almost half over several years.

      These innovative methods using a combination of economic instruments for cost recovery of garbage disposal and reducing excessive packaging to minimize the impact of Japan's waste disposal stream.

See also Koreas Volume-based Garbage Collection Fee