On June 14, 2004, Matsue City (in Shimane Prefecture, western Japan) launched a "Let's Carry Our Own Chopsticks" Campaign, which encourages its 1,500 municipal employees to carry their own chopsticks at all times.

The city has been collecting used disposable wooden chopsticks at the city hall and related facilities since fiscal 1998. By fiscal 2003 the total amount collected was about 1,357,000 pairs of chopsticks, weighing 5,425.8 kilograms. The collection rate of chopsticks has been increasing, but the city has also been concerned about deforestation in China, driven by chopstick production for the Japanese market. Meanwhile, much of the wood from the thinning of forests in Japan (produced during regular forest management) finds no use and is discarded. These concerns resulted in the new campaign.

The city also asked five catering companies, who were using chopsticks made of wood from China, Russia and other overseas sources, not to provide them with their lunch boxes. It has also been educating its employees to decline disposable chopsticks when making purchases at supermarkets or convenience stores.

There has been some debate both inside and outside the city office about this campaign. Matsue City stresses that its aim is to stop deforestation in China, and that it doesn't oppose the use of disposable chopsticks made from Japanese forest thinning. The city plans to further promote this campaign by analyzing the progress at its facilities and publicizing the results achieved.



Posted: 2004/11/05 02:33:05 PM
Japanese version

TAG Ecosystem , Local government , Other