A regional recycling system of household food waste is steadily showing good results in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan. The city government launched the system at two locations in September 2004 as a model project to promote the reduction and recycling of household food waste.

Under the project, each household separates food waste into a business-type electric organic compactor installed by the city adjacent to a garbage collection port. The compactor dries and compresses the waste to produce materials that are processed into fully matured compost by farmers. The farmers then use this compost to cultivate vegetables, and the vegetables are sold at reasonable prices at a market held periodically in the region to benefit residents. The project is gaining a good reputation among all the people involved, and is contributing to waste reduction and effective use of waste.

The city has also been providing subsidies for citizens to purchase home-use electric compactors in an effort to promote household food waste processing. Dried garbage processed by compactors can be exchanged for vegetables, vegetable vouchers or flower seeds at vegetable markets held periodically in each ward or at ward offices.

The dried organic waste exchanged for vegetables or collected at offices amounted to 853 kilograms in FY 2004 and 1,219 kilograms in FY 2005. This means that about six tons of food waste was recycled in FY 2004 and about 8.5 tons was recycled in FY 2005.


- Sendai City Promotes Organic-Waste-for-Fresh-Vegetables Exchange (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1076-e

Posted: 2006/11/03 11:25:32 AM
Japanese version

TAG Local government , Material reduction