| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 97 14:16 WET From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Recycling waste management in Japan (Jessika Behrens)
January 21, 1997
Dear Jessika Behrens,
To our knowledge at the Research Library for RCRA, the situation in Japan remains as you recall it: little sub-category sortation happens for recycling. The emphasis is still very much on incineration. The exceptions come in two areas:
Construction waste and auto parts both of which are recycled extensively, in which subsidized research takes place (RILEM, the professional/trade association of the construction trades recycling is forever publishing new research on new applications or new combinations of waste materials that can be used in construction: carpet for shoring up construction girders for example, waste paper products for insulation for another example./
If you think about this resource-poor industrial giant, you can pretty well predict its current and future recycling involvements. But insofar as MSW recycling is concerned, the emphasis culturally is still on new, new, new, shiny, flashy, and when its broken, throw it out, don t have it repaired, etc. The culture still retains its antipathy to second-hand goods and recyclables, even remanufactured new products, take a lesser tier of desire.