Friday, October 20, 2017/WEEKEND NATION 20
The Association for Promotion of International Cooperation(APIC) and the Foreign Press Centre of Japan have come together
once again to give regional journalists insight into how thecountry goes about mitigating the effects of natural disasters.
Japan, a country known in recent times for earthquakes andtsunamis, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on special
technology and building methods to protect its citizenry. This year
APIC has invited six journalists from the Caribbean and Pacificregion to get a first-hand look at those methods.
Associate Editor Barry Alleyne is there representing
the NATION.

RESIDENTS in Kawasaki can only bring out
their garbage on the morning of collection,
and apartment buildings have small cansin which the refuse is neatly piled.

Thelittlecity
thatcould

by BARRY ALLEYNE
in Japan

KAWASAKI CITY,
Japan – Just call
Kawasaki City the littleengine that could.

Japan’s seventh
smallest city just southof Tokyo has a little over
1.5 million inhabitants,
but when it comes tobuying into recycling
and waste reduction,it’s the next big thing.
And Caribbeancountries could learn alesson or two on having
its population, startingwith children and ending
with pensioners, giving
100 per cent support

CLEAN
AS A
WHISTLE:
Moments
aftercollection,
anapartment
employee
washesdown thearea andthere isvirtually
no smellin theavenues ofKawasaki
City.
(Pictures byBarry Alleyne.)

to the concept of reduce,reuse and recycle.
There is virtually noillegal dumping in thecommunities, even lessrats on the street, andsqueaky-clean avenues
that would make citizens
in other First World
countries blush.
That is all supported
by a strict adherence
to a recycling code thathas led to a reduction
in overall amounts ofgarbage produced, which
in turn has led to morecost-efficient operations
at the two main factories,
a collection centre,
Continued on next page.

Friday, October 20, 2017/WEEKEND NATION 21

Cleanest smelling garbage
From Page 20.
and a plastic recycling
factory in Kawasaki.
The main cogs inKawasaki City’s wheel areefficiency and complete
buy-in from residents.
Garbage is collected
five days per week, withkitchen waste collectedon Wednesdays andSaturdays. The othertwo days are sharedfor collection of paper,
plastic, aluminium
cans and bulk waste.
Kawasaki City has
arguably the world’s
cleanest smelling garbage
sites, since bags are
only brought out on themorning of collection.
Even when the trucks
come around and busy
workers bundle out
to clear the mess,breathing deep iseasy and comfortable.
A fine of
BDS$200 000 for illegal
dumping also works inthe municipality’s favour,with no residents wishing
to find themselves
dumped on the wrong
side of the law.
A translator inJapanese explained that
because no rats interferewith the garbage, the only
animals coming aroundare cats or crows.

Holiday load
Volume only becomesa problem during theChristmas holidays.
“Everything is basedon the morale of thepeople. If the numbers
are heavy they can callthe municipality to say
how much they have. The
limit is 100 kilogrammes
per person,” themunicipality’s recycling
chief, Yasuyuki
Ito explains.
To cut down on
non-compliance with theseparation days, police areallowed to open garbage
bags and inspect thecontents in an effort
to identify culprits.
Municipal officials
explained that Kawasaki
City, once one of thedirtiest and most polluted
cities in Japan, turned
the corner a little overa decade ago when
government ordered thata holistic waste reduction
and recycling programme
be implemented.
It earned results byencouraging educationof children and adults
in the virtues ofseparation of garbage
and producing less.
Residents were informedof expected changes
a little over a year
before the programme
became mandatory.

And let’s not forget
the sounds of music.
In Kawasaki City, eachgarbage truck has apublic address systemwhich blares out music
reminiscent of icecreamtrucks in the Caribbean.
The music reminds
residents who haven’t

put out their garbage thatthe small green trucks
are approaching.
And before the final
note of the “icecreamsound” plays, the four
workers who man eachtruck have alreadycleared the neatly
heaped garbage mounds.

In Kawasaki City,
even clearing garbage
brings a happy vibe, bothfor residents and for the
little city.