N-3. Domestic Waste Generated per capita

1.Current Values
1.111 grams / person (Fiscal 2002)

2.Current Points
(out of a perfect score of 100 by 2050) 3 points
Calculation method:
(Current value – minimum value) / (2050 target value – minimum value) x 100

3. Explanation of Indicator
In a sustainable society, waste product generation is held to a minimum and resources are efficiently recycled. Realizing sustainable recycling of resources of the sort that exists in nature can’t attained by increasing energy consumption in the form of large-scale production, large-scale consumption, and large-scale recycling. It is essential to first limit the generation [of waste] and to make them biodegradable both in quality and quantity.

We have chosen per capita total daily trash discharge as an indicator because changes in individual lifestyles hold the key to accomplishing these objectives.

4.Target for 2050
411 grams / person day

5.Ideal for the Future
411 grams / person day

6. Rationale for Ideal and Target Values
An “ecological footprint” is expressed in terms of area and is how much biologically producible land and water are needed to support human subsistence in a given region. Currently, the area that the planet can actually supply is 2.18 hectares (just under 5 acres), but in Japan it is 2.7 times that, or 5.94 hectares (about 14.7 acres). This would indicate that the environmental burden of the Japanese lifestyle must become 1/3 (more precisely 1/2.7) of what it currently is. For this report we are hypothetically applying this figure in our calculations.

7. Source
Ministry of the Environment “Regarding the Status of General Waste Discharge and Management, Etc.”(Japanese only)

Related information:
State of Japan's Environment at a Glance, Waste

8. Notes
Nation-wide general waste (trash and sewage) total discharge at 51.61 million tons, assumed to continue unchanged for some years.



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