Japanology Plus

Hello and welcome to Japanology Plus,
I'm Peter Barakan.

Today I'm going to be talking rubbish.

I know what you're thinking.

I should probably say
I'm going to be talking

about rubbish, garbage, refuse, waste,
whatever you want to call it.

Different countries have
different ways of dealing with it.

Some countries bury their
rubbish without processing it.

But in Japan and some other Asian
countries where land is at a premium,

that's not a viable option.

In Japan, a lot of rubbish is
incinerated before disposal.

But even so, landfills are getting
pretty close to capacity.

The country's in urgent need of
new ideas and new technologies.

And on today's program,

we'll take a look at the scope of the
problem and some possible solutions.

Garbage

We're in Osaka, which will host
the World Expo in 2025.

Hello.

Hello.

- Nice to meet you, Hanashima-san.
- Nice to meet you.

Hanashima Atsuko is an expert on waste
reduction and resource management.

She supports zero-waste
projects in the Osaka region,

and promotes the 3Rs:
reduce, reuse, recycle.

Osaka, back in 2019, welcomed
world leaders for the G20 summit.

They announced
the “Osaka Blue Ocean Vision,”

a push to eliminate additional plastic

and microplastic pollution
in the ocean by 2050.

And in 2025, a year or two from now,
the World Expo will be held here.

It's another opportunity to introduce
new technologies and initiatives,

on a global stage.

OK.

When we talk about
problems with rubbish...

you mentioned microplastic just now;
I know that's one big issue.

What other specific issues
are the main ones?

In recent years,

topics like food loss and marine plastic
have been getting a lot of attention.

But the core issue is reducing the overall
amount of garbage that is produced.

And figuring out how to circulate
resources at the local level.

We need to develop a system

where we only produce
as much as we can process.

That's essential.

Today, I'll show you some interesting
initiatives and places here in Osaka.

OK.

First, we visit a land reclamation
site in Osaka Bay.

Ash from incinerated garbage is

brought here from 169 facilities
in six prefectures.

You get a good view up here.

OK, so this is all reclaimed land.

Yes, that's right.

And how far can you reclaim?
How much can it grow?

It can be used for nine more years.

Just nine more.

The site opened in 2009,
but is already half full.

Soon, there'll be no more room.

So what happens then?

Once reclaimed, the land will
be used by port management.

And after that, there'll
be nowhere to bury the ash?

Well, this is something
that's currently being discussed.

So there are no definite
plans as yet for then?

There are no firm plans?

Not yet.

Going to have to start
thinking pretty quick.

But this is just one example.

There's lots of places just like this,
I'm sure, all over Japan.

Yes.

Right now, garbage is incinerated,
and used for land reclamation.

And that's fine—it works.

But the problem comes later.

We can't keep doing this forever.

The trash we produce every day is
slowly building up, in the form of ash.

I want to educate people
about that reality.

We have to find a new way of doing things.

Every one of us has
to think about the future,

and try to generate as little trash
as possible in our daily lives.

A large volume of plastic
waste pollutes our oceans.

Food is overproduced,
and the excess is thrown away.

These issues threaten
the global environment,

and tackling them requires
an international approach.

But factors such as population, culture,
and waste disposal differ by country.

So most countries pass
measures independently.

Let's see how it works in Japan.

Residents are asked
to separate their trash.

The categories differ by municipality,

but may include burnable waste
and non-burnable waste...

Also, recyclables—such as paper,
cans, glass, and plastic bottles.

Recyclables are converted
into new products.

The other waste—burnable,
non-burnable, over-sized, etc.—

is either shredded or incinerated.

In other countries, it's common for
rubbish to go directly to a landfill.

But in Japan—with relatively little
available space—it's incinerated first,

so it takes up less room.

Starting in the 1970s,

Japan's sustained economic
growth led to burgeoning waste.

The situation worsened, and eventually,

there was a desperate
shortage of landfill sites.

So in 2000, the government
introduced a new law

aimed at reducing the amount
of rubbish being produced.

Back then,

one person produced an average
of 1,132 grams of rubbish per day.

By 2021, that number
had fallen to 890 grams.

But despite this success, landfill sites
are now approaching their limit.

Our next stop is a park
right by Osaka Bay.

Sand pit, circle table, circle bench...

Hello.

Hello.

This is kind of a children's playground.

It's an educational play
area based on upcycling.

Upcycling? Oh.

Do you understand the term?

Yes, in a vague sense. I mean
it's recycling with added value.

Right?

But I couldn't probably tell you
much more about it than that.

With regard to this place, I'm not quite
sure how the upcycling is being used.

For example, scrap wood.

Oh, this is all being made
out of waste materials.

Used items are given
a new design and purpose.

This is upcycling, and it's how most
of this equipment was created.

- So these…
- This hill here...

How was it made?

The soil was excavated during construction
work on a building's foundations.

Instead of being thrown away,
it was brought here.

Here's something
you'll recognize right away.

We used pot lids.

And doorknobs.

OK.

Yeah, I can remember going
to see exhibitions of African art,

and a lot of times the artists would just
take stuff they found in the street

and use it in very ingenious
ways to make art objects.

So it's a little similar in idea to that…

and I suppose you just…
climb upon here, like that, hm…

it's good fun for kids.

This climbing equipment was
made out of used fishing nets.

Whoa, amazing!

Probably slightly dangerous,
but kind of fun.

Now how to get out of here...

In this playground, they seem to
be doing a little bit of upcycling,

a little bit of recycling
and a bit of reusing things.

There's all kinds of things going on,

but upcycling itself...

I wonder how effective it is in dealing
with the problem of garbage.

Japan's recycling rate
is actually a bit low.

In Europe, around 40 to 50 percent
of garbage is recycled.

But in Japan, the national
average is around 20 percent.

That's interesting because,
living in Tokyo,

we recycle paper once a week,
cardboard boxes once a week,

plastic bottles once a week,

let's see...glass bottles
and cans once a week.

So all kinds of things that
are recycled on a regular basis.

I would have thought that
there was a higher rate.

Places with a high rate tend to
recycle things like food waste.

And diapers, too.

That's significant in places
with an aging population.

People recycle various things like that,
which then raises the rate.

Japanology Plus

Hello there and welcome to Plus One.
My name is Kyle Card.

And today I'm in Shibuya,
just a stone's throw away from NHK.

And close to here, there is an office

where they're currently attempting to
solve the worldwide littering problem.

I'm very curious to see
what they're up to.

Let's go take a look.

Hello?

Hello.

I heard that you have a secret plan

to help solve the worldwide
problem of littering.

You mean the garbage pickup app.

Garbage pickup application?

You pick up trash, take a picture,
and something happens.

Sounds exciting. I'd like to try that.

It's a new social media app.

You pick up litter and post photos.

Users share messages and comments.

Kyle will try it out in Shibuya.

Are these...these black circles with
sparkles in them, are those garbage?

Those sparkles are places where
a user has picked up some litter.

There's a lot of garbage here. Wow.

That's right. Are you ready to find some?

All right, let's go look for some garbage.

So, from your experience,
what kind of garbage is uh...

Look here.

Cigarette butts are a common
form of garbage.

That's right. Should we pick it up?

Gomi, pick up.

No good. Put these where they belong.

Places like this are often full of litter.

Look at that.

Litter bugs.

Can't pick it up...got it.

Well it hasn't even been five minutes
and I have this much garbage.

That's right.

Oh, oh...

Ah, wonderful.

It's getting fun.

Have you picked up litter before?

Yes. Back in grade school, whenever
you kind of did something bad,

during your lunch hour you would be made
to pick up garbage and things like that.

So, yeah.

And sometimes we'd volunteer to pick
up garbage during like special days,

like Earth Day. Things like that.

Yeah. So lots, actually.

In Japan, children clean
their classrooms themselves,

which establishes a pattern of behavior.

So it's easy for people to
understand what we're doing.

All right, so we have gathered
a reasonable amount of trash

and separated the cans
from the burnable garbage.

What's next?

Let's take a photo.
Press this button here.

Oh, is this the button? Right.

This one here,
the rainbow button with the tongs?

Now, take the photo.

All right...

OK.

Great.

Post.

Sending.

A few minutes later...

Oh I got a thank you.

See? I got my first one.

Yay! Done it.

Wow. It feels good to be appreciated.
Let me tell you.

GJ. That must mean “good job.”
Okay. I did a good job.

Yeah, I know.

The photos are sent to universities
and other research institutions.

They use AI to analyze the variety
and volume of rubbish.

This helps in the planning
of ocean cleanup projects.

So what is your eventual goal
with this whole project?

By 2040, we want the amount
of litter we pick up

to exceed the amount
that ends up in nature.

At the moment,
marine garbage is a serious issue.

But around 80 percent of it comes
from the land. That's what we're told.

So on land, what litter is there?
Where is it found, and collected?

The answers will tell us about
the movement of garbage.

That's another goal.

Oh that's great, actually.

Now that was fun and super rewarding.

It's not often after picking up garbage,

whether as a punishment or volunteer,
do you get widespread appreciation.

I truly believe it's projects
and applications like this

that may be the key to reducing littering
and garbage problems worldwide.

Now I'll just get back to it then.

Since ancient times, people in Japan
have made the most of limited resources.

Thousands of years ago,

rubbish was kept separately
from residences in “shell mounds.”

Written material from 820 AD mentions
a cleaning and recycling specialist,

working at the Imperial court.

In the 1200s,

human waste was collected from toilets,
fermented, and used as compost.

Later, human waste came
to be used in various ways.

It was sold to make fertilizer.

Japan's oldest agricultural documents

described it as a key requirement
in farming.

Human waste was also
used to make saltpeter,

a raw material for medicine and gunpowder.

In modern times, as a result
of experiments like this,

manure from livestock can now
be used to make biogas.

The manure is fermented together with
food waste, resulting in a clean fuel.

Developing an efficient method to produce
biogas took years of trial and error.

As a result, this facility in Kyoto

can ferment large quantities of waste
and turn it into biogas.

We use a machine to sort burnable garbage.

Food waste is taken out and fermented
in methane tanks for 20 days.

It's broken down by microorganisms,
and we extract the gas.

Biogas can be burned as fuel to
power various types of equipment—

boilers, engines, turbines,
fuel cells, and more.

At this facility, it's used
to generate electricity.

That covers the annual power consumption
of around 2,000 households.

Power from biogas can help to reduce

a household's reliance
on other energy sources.

I think this could contribute
to a circular economy.

Our next stop is an incineration facility.

OK, look at this!

What is that?

It's a waste disposal plant.

Oh, you're kidding.

The Maishima Incineration Plant.

Somebody was having a psychedelic
dream when that was designed.

Ha.

This unusual-looking building

is the largest rubbish treatment facility
in Osaka.

It was built in 2009, when the city
was bidding for the Olympic Games.

Hello; thanks for having us.

Welcome to the plant!

I'm the manager, Nakamura.
Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

I imagine very few people on seeing
this building would imagine

that there's a waste
disposal plant inside.

What's behind the idea for the design?

It was designed
by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

He was an Austrian artist, painter,
and environmental activist.

The Osaka city government
hired him to design the building.

Hundertwasser's work pursued
the theme of coexistence with nature.

Here, red and orange
represent incineration.

The light blue chimney represents water.

Reflecting the variety of the natural
world, no two windows are exactly alike.

Greenery was planted to compensate

for the harm this project
did to the environment.

Generally speaking,

sewage plants, crematoriums,
and garbage treatment facilities like this

are disliked by the public.

People don't like having them nearby.

They don't want them
in their own neighborhood.

“Not in my backyard.” That's
what it's called. NIMBY for short.

The NIMBY principle, yes.

But the Maishima Incineration Plant
is different.

It says, “Hey everybody,
look at the facility we have here!”

It calls out to people,
it doesn't try to hide.

That's a new approach.

So I guess the idea was

if a lot of visitors came to Osaka
from around the world,

they wanted to be able to show
them other things in the city.

That's true.

The World Expo is coming up,

and we want to show off the city
to an international audience.

OK.

Most of Osaka's household waste
is brought to this plant.

It operates 24 hours a day,
365 days a year,

and can incinerate 900 tonnes per day.

How common is it to incinerate garbage?

Well it's not just Japan.

To reduce volume, garbage incineration
is used all around the world.

But it is true that Japan
has a lot of incinerators.

At present it has around
a thousand of them.

I know there used to be a lot
of worry about dioxin.

Is that still a worry now?

Dioxin is emitted when
garbage isn't fully burned.

But that's not what happens here,
in our tanks.

They reach over 900 degrees Celsius,

resulting in complete combustion
that limits emissions.

Incineration does produce acid gas.

That's chemically treated and expelled
through the chimney you saw earlier.

In general, it's colorless and invisible.

It's in an extremely clean state.

The explanation we give is that
it's almost identical to water vapor.

That's how clean it is.

Incineration technology has steadily
improved, eliminating dioxin emissions.

But there is another byproduct.

Incineration produces thermal energy.
A lot of it.

And simply disposing
of it would be wasteful.

So we use the heat to power
this steam turbine.

The turbine rotates,
generating electricity.

That's the equipment here.

And what's that electricity used for?

We use some of it here at the plant.

Around 30 percent of it is
used to power our facility.

The remaining 70 percent is sent out.

We sell it to an external power company,
and that brings in money.

This is the process we have here.

Interesting.

How much money?

Well, the level of income in the 2020
fiscal year was around one billion yen.

Around that much.

That's impressive.

Japan's incineration plants
are relatively clean.

They emit minimal toxic substances.

And they can be operated very safely.

The garbage is completely incinerated,
leaving safely disposable ash.

I believe the technology
is especially advanced.

It's really impressive.

It sounds great,
and I'm sure it works really well.

Why isn't this technology being
used more outside Japan?

I don't know for certain.
But it is very expensive.

So that may make it difficult
for developing countries, for example,

to use the technology.

OK.

Touring the plant is as simple
as making a reservation.

It's an educational facility
where people of all ages

can learn about waste
separation and disposal.

Now Peter's going to try his hand
at generating electricity himself.

Oh, OK.

Are we actually... OK.

Look behind you!

This gives children first-hand
experience with generating power.

And through that experience,
they learn a lot.

So this is something else we do.

OK. That's fun.

The Maishima Incineration Plant
receives lots of visitors, of all ages.

So they have like education programs?

That's right.

In 1980, the Education Ministry
set up a program

where elementary school children take
field trips to waste disposal facilities.

In Japan, around 40 percent
of the population

have visited either an incineration
plant like this one,

or a recycling facility,
thanks to that law.

Informing people of the system
may change how they view garbage.

And that may be a positive step.

Well there definitely does seem
to be a fairly high awareness

of the various issues around
garbage in this country.

And that's a good thing,
and that's all about sustainability,

which is the big key word
in the world these days.

So that's still continuing,
I'm sure. That program.

Absolutely.

OK. But as you were saying,
it's about 40%.

It needs to get up to about
99% before it's finished.

So there's still a lot of work to do.

OK. Thank you very much.

Thank you.