Thirteen New Recycling Ports Designated

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) designated 13 additional ports as bases for comprehensive resource recovery, or recycling ports, on April 23, 2003. This is the second round of designations; the first five ports were designated in May 2002.

When a port is deemed favorable as a base for recovering the resources needed to supply an extensive network of recycling facilities, it is chosen as a recycling port. In response to applications from port managers, MLIT judges their eligibility and then provides support.

The newly designated Hachinohe Port, for example, has been linked to a recycling system in which building materials are produced at existing factories from incinerator ash and discarded scallop shells. Himekawa Port, also designated this time, has been promoting biomass power generation, and also making cement from recyclable resources in collaboration with existing cement plants, which function as the network hub.

A total of 18 ports, including the five designated last year, will become bases for comprehensive resource recovery in the years to come. MLIT plans to promote public-private partnerships as it aims for a new national recycling system, together with the renewal and revitalization of coastal industries.

The first ports designated were Muroran, Tomakomai, Tokyo, Kobe and Kitakyushu. The 13 newly designated ports are located throughout the nation from Hokkaido to Okinawa, and are Ishikari Bay New Port, Hachinohe, Kamaishi, Sakata, Kisarazu, Kawasaki, Himekawa, Mikawa, Himeji, Tokuyama-kudamatsu, Ube, Miike and Nakagusuku Bay.



Posted: 2003/06/17 09:11:57 AM
Japanese version