Copyright Mie Waste Paper Center

The Mie Waste Paper Center, a paper collection company in Japan's Mie prefecture -- which has been collecting paper for recycling since the summer of 2006 -- started accepting used cooking oil in February 2008. In its paper collection system, the company uses machines, set up in several supermarkets in the cities of Yokkaichi and Suzuka, that automatically weigh the paper that people drop off for recycling and then calculate rewards points for them. Accumulated points can then be exchanged for vouchers for use at supermarkets and Japan Agriculture direct sales stores. Now, the same can be done with used cooking oil at the company's new Eco-Station facility, recently built in the Utsube district in Yokkaichi.

The automated machine allows residents to bring their used cooking oil and waste paper in at any time of day. The waste paper is recycled into new paper, and the used cooking oil is processed into biofuel.

The idea of recycling cooking oil in the Utsube district came out of a series of seminars to study the future of the environment, organized in 2007 as a lifelong learning activity for citizens. The participants compiled their ideas into a list of top ten proposals for protecting the environment, and one of them was the idea of recycling used cooking oil. The residents then asked the company in December 2007 if it would add used cooking oil to its recycling operation, when it established its first automated station equipped with the automatic point-calculating machine to collect waste paper in the district. Two months later, the company completed constructing its Eco-Station to collect both waste paper and used cooking oil.

Furthermore, the company has jointly developed an eco-card with the Faculty of Environment and Information Technology at Mie University, which they plan to patent, on which the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction a resident can contribute is recorded. As the eco-card helps people visualize the amount of CO2 they emit in daily life, the company expects it will promote more awareness among people and encourage them to make more efforts to reduce their emissions. The company also plans to expand its automated collection operations to accept aluminum cans, steel cans, and plastic PET bottles.



Posted: 2008/08/17 11:24:11 AM

TAG Material reduction , NGO/Citizen , Non-manufacturing industry , University/Research institute