PWMI Newsletter
NO 37 2008.10

Plastic Waste Management InstituteJAPAN

Plastic Waste in Tokyo:
From Landfilling to Recycling
For Tokyo’s 23 wards (the 23 administrative
wards making up central Tokyo), household plastic
waste that up to now has been disposed of in landﬁlls
will be recycled by either material recycling,chemical recycling, or energy recovery from October2008.
In 2004, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government(TMG) received a report titled “Plastic Waste: A
Valuable Resource Inappropriate for Landﬁlls” fromthe Tokyo Waste Management Council (chairman:
Professor Tanaka Masaru of Tottori University ofEnvironmental Studies). This report led to a major
shift in thinking about plastic waste and put Tokyo on
the path toward discontinuing the disposal of plastic

1

waste in landfills and playing a bigger role in thecreation of a recycling-oriented society.
It has also been decided that industrial plastic
waste that up to now has been disposed of in a Tokyo
landﬁll will be gradually phased out as landﬁll from2008 with the aim of achieving zero landﬁll disposalby 2011.
To deal with industrial plastic waste that will nolonger be accepted at the Tokyo landfill, a worldclass gasification system and melting furnace hasbegan operation near the landfill signaling a major
move from landfilling to recycling for plastic waste
discharged from Tokyo.

2004: Tokyo Waste Management
Council Reports That Plastic Waste is
Unsuitable for Landfills

Relegation of plastic waste to landﬁlls
The reason why most plastic waste generated inTokyo’s 23 wards has been disposed of in landﬁlls up
to now (some plastic waste like PET bottles andwhite food trays has been collected for material
recycling) originates in the 1973 decision by the
TMG that “plastic waste is unsuitable for incineration.”
At that time, incineration facilities within Tokyo
were meager and lacked the capacity to handle theever increasing volume of plastic waste. There wastherefore no other choice but to dispose of plastic
waste in landﬁlls.
Landﬁll sites become scarce
In recent years, however, the lives of remaining
final disposal sites (landfills or reclaimed land) for
industrial waste has become a major problem as land
suitable for such sites becomes scare and obtaining
consent from local residents for creating new sites
becomes difﬁcult. For Tokyo, which is mostly urban,

this problem is particularly grave compared to otherregions.
In Tokyo, the 230ha Chuo Bohatei landﬁll lies
outside the central breakwater in Tokyo Bay (seephoto). This disposal site is said to have 30 years leftin its life under present conditions.
Considering, however, the extreme difﬁculty ofcreating new disposal sites in Tokyo, ﬁnding a way toextend the life of this disposal site has become amajor issue.
The above circumstances generated discussion onwhether disposing of ever increasing plastic waste isgood after all. The argument was that plastic waste isa valuable resource, that disposing of it in landﬁlls is
a waste, and that such disposal should be discontinued to extend the life of ﬁnal disposal sites.
At the same time, the upgrading of existing

incineration sites and the construction of new sites inTokyo has been progressing in recent years, and thetotal incineration of plastic waste from households
has become a possibility. New incineration facilities,
moreover, are equipped with a function for preventing
the generation of dioxins and other pollutants. As aresult, they sufﬁciently clear regulations with regard
to environmental pollution, and this has promptedTokyo residents to accept the use of plastic waste forenergy recovery (the generation of electric powerfrom the heat produced by burning plastic waste atincineration facilities).
Against this background, the Tokyo Waste
Management Council issued a report in 2004 titled“Plastic Waste: A Valuable Resource Inappropriate
for Landﬁlls” advocating the goal of zero disposal ofplastic waste in landﬁlls.

has been essential that Tokyo residents be wellinformed and that understanding of this matter be
promoted.
For more than two years now, concerned departments in Tokyo’s 23 wards have been conducting
meetings to explain the collection of plastic waste
based on new sorting rules and have been engaged in
PR activities such as creating compelling posters anddistributing explanatory pamphlets.

Tokyo’s 23 wards” below.)
For example, in Minato ward, one of Tokyo’s
three central wards, all types of plastic waste discharged from households—including plastic waste
other than containers and packaging—are lumped
together for collection with the exception of PET
bottles. The plastic waste so collected is brought to atrash disposal facility where it is then sorted and usedmostly for chemical recycling.
In contrast, six wards including Setagaya collectplastic waste other than PET bottles as burnable trash
and use it for energy recovery (power generation).
Which methods to adopt depend on a ward’s
ﬁnances (shorting and collection expenses) and stateof intermediate processing facilities (sorting, compression, packing).

Differences in collecting and processing
methods between wards
Although full implementation of plastic waste
recycling is to go into effect from October 2008, themethods used differ from one ward to the next. (Seethe table “Methods of collecting plastic waste in

Methods of collecting plastic waste in Tokyo’s 23 wards○: Collected as a resource△: partially collected as a resource with remainder for energy recovery★: Collected as burnable trash for energy recovery
Type

PET Bottles

Food Trays

Plastic Containers andPackaging

Other Types of Plastic

Chiyoda

○

○

○

★

Chuo

○

○

○

★

Minato○○○○Shinjuku

○

○

○

★

Bunkyo

○

△

★

★

Taito

○

○

△

△

Sumida

○

○

★

★

Koto

○

○

★

★

Shinagawa

○

○

○

★

Meguro

○

○

○

★

Ota

○

○

★

★

Setagaya

○

★

★

★

Shibuya

○

○

★

★

Nakano○○○★

Suginami

○

○

○

★

Toshima

○

○

△

★

Kita

○

★

★

★

Arakawa

○

△

★

★

Itabashi

○

○

△

★

Nerima○○○★

Adachi○★

★

★

Katsushika

○

○

○

★

Edogawa

○

○

○

★

Ward

Tokyo Harbor Chuo Bohatei Landﬁll (the area aﬂoat on the ocean surface at the bottom of the photo is the landﬁll)2

Almost All Household Plastic Waste
to Be Recycled or Used forEnergy Recovery from Fall 2008

Trial collection commences in various areas
in ﬁscal 2006
On receiving the report from the Tokyo Waste
Management Council, the General Assembly of Ward
Mayors of Tokyo’s 23 wards decided in October2005 that household plastic waste, which up to thenhad been disposed in landﬁlls as nonburnable trash,would be recycled. This decision was followed infiscal 2006 by the start of trial collections in someareas based on a new trash sorting system.
2

In 2008, as full implementation nears, trial
collections are being performed in all 23 wards, andfrom October, collection will begin in all areas basedon new sorting standards and almost all types ofplastic waste will be recycled.
In this way, plastic waste polices have taken amajor change in direction from landfilling torecycling, and since plastic waste that was formerly
treated as nonburnable trash will now be treated as aresource or burnable trash (for energy recovery), it

PWMI Newsletter 3

Effect of energy recovery
According to estimations made by departments
processing household trash in Tokyo’s 23 wards,
changing the disposal of household plastic wastefrom landfilling to energy recovery will reduce
processing expenses by about 5.2 billion yen.
On the other hand, there are those that think thatenergy recovery will increase greenhouse gases
significantly compared to landfilling, but initial
calculations estimate only a slight increase of about
7,000 tons annually.
Future issues
Starting in the fall of 2008, nearly all plastic
waste discharged from households in Tokyo’s 23

wards will be recycled in some form or another.
But, as described above, the methods used toachieve this are not uniform. From a WLCA (Waste
Life Cycle Assessment) perspective, this can beviewed as a great experiment in evaluating which
method or methods are superior.
In two or three years time, this great experiment
may clarify the efficiency of sorted collection, themorale of dischargers (residents), the costs associatedwith collecting and processing (recycling), etc.
At any rate, the issue of the future will be ﬁndingout to how to make good use of the results of thisgreat experiment to construct a more efficient
processing system.

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Recycling as described above does not target
only trash discharged from households. Progress isbeing made in recycling industrial plastic waste andreducing its disposal in landﬁlls to zero by 2011.
Restricting landﬁll amounts graduallyfrom ﬁscal 2008
Up to now, most of the industrial plastic waste
generated in Tokyo has been disposed in the Chuo
Bohatei landfill the same as domestic waste (wastefrom households).
Starting in January 2008, however, the amount ofindustrial plastic waste accepted at the landﬁll will be�����������
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gradually reduced with the aim of achieving zero
landﬁll for this type of waste by 2011.
From landﬁlling to recycling promotion
It is said that most of the plastic waste that iscurrently being disposed of in the Chuo Bohatei
landﬁll is suitable for energy recovery.
The TMG has consequently instructed that plastic
waste that has nowhere to go due to reduction inapproved landfilling amounts is first to be collected
for material and chemical recycling while plastic
waste not suitable for those types of recycling is to
be used for energy recovery.

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Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power:
A New Large-scale Plant at the Frontlineof Energy Recovery from Industrial Waste

Featuring world-class waste melting facilities,
Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power Co., Ltd. shows
great promise as a new means of handling industrial
plastic waste that will eventually be refused at the
Chuo Bohatei landﬁll.
Turning industrial waste into slugby gasiﬁcation and melting
Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power is a cutting-edge industrial waste treatment plant that began
operation in August 2006. It is located very near the
Chuo Bohatei landfill where plastic waste has
traditionally been brought for ﬁnal disposal.
The plant features a gasification furnace andmelting furnace for industrial waste having a capacityof 550 tons/day and a vertical furnace for treating
infectious medical waste having a capacity of 50
tons/day. The heat generated by both furnaces is used
PWMI Newsletter 5

for generating power.
The former capacity of 550 tons/day corresponds
to one third of the industrial plastic waste discharged
in one day within Tokyo while the latter capacity of
50 tons/day corresponds to two thirds of the medical
waste generated in one day in Tokyo.
The gasification and melting furnaces melt
construction debris (mostly interior ﬁnishing material
that includes plastic), shredder dust from electricalappliances, ofﬁce-related plastic waste, etc. at 1,450°
C and collects the ﬁnal result as slag.
In the process ﬂow, waste that has been cut down
to a fixed size or smaller at an intermediate processing plant is ﬁrst treated in the gasiﬁcation furnace
to extract iron and aluminum. Remaining waste isthen conveyed to the melting furnace where it ismelted and recovered as slag.
About 50 tons of this slag is shipped out daily as
an alternative product to sand for use as base material
in road beds, backfill material, etc. The demand forthis slag is such that the plant is hard pressed to keep
up with orders. Of course, the iron and aluminum
recovered from the gasification furnace are sold as

valuable resources.
* Size of accepted waste
�Wires and metal waste must be broken down to 15 cm or less;Process ﬂow of industrial waste treatment��������

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nets, ropes, polyethylene tanks, etc. to 30 cm or less; and interior���������������������
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bedding, blankets, cloth, etc. to 50 cm or less.

Processing capacity of 50 tons/day
for infectious medical waste
This plant is also designed to treat medical waste
such as syringes, needles, and gauze including plastic
products with an incineration capacity of 50 tons/day.
The medical waste brought into this plant comesfrom about 2,000 hospitals and clinics located inTokyo and three neighboring prefectures. To get such
waste to the plant, a medical institution inserts thewaste into a specially prepared container, seals thecontainer, and consigns it to a carrier for transport.
Then, at the plant, the medical waste is throwninto a special furnace container and all to prevent
infection from that waste.

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Control of toxic emissions
Particulates

AluminumNitrogen
Oxide

Hydrogen
Chloride

Dioxins

CarbonMonoxide

g/Nm3

ppm

ppm

ppm

ng-TEQ/Nm3

ppm

Legal limit

0.04

約17

約83

約430

0.1

100

Voluntary limit

0.01

10

30

10

0.05

30

Particulates

Iron

SulfurOxide

Slag

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PWMI Newsletter 7

Power generation from the gasiﬁcation andmelting system and from the medical waste
furnace tooTokyo Waterfront Recycle Power has a steam
turbine generator having a capacity of 23,000 kW(55,000 households worth). It generates power using
the steam from boilers connected to the gasiﬁcation/
melting furnace and medical waste furnace.
At present, the plant generates about 15,000 kWof electric power with about 6000 kW of that used
for the plant itself and the remaining 9,000 kW soldas excess power to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The power generating efﬁciency of this plant ishigh at 20%. This is due to the 400°C high-temperature steam produced by the gasification/melting
furnace.
The special furnace used for medical waste requiresthat a chlorine gas countermeasure be taken since
medical waste includes products with vinyl chloride.
This holds down steam temperature to 257°C.
Helping to prevent global warming
by reducing CO2 emissions
An important feature of power generation fromwaste at Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power is that it
contributes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
But, in actuality, the system generates carbon
dioxide as an incineration process. However, theplant’s large power-generating capacity means that it
can sell excess power to Tokyo Electric Power resulting in less power generated by that company thereby
contributing, though indirectly, to a reduction ofcarbon dioxide emissions. Calculations show that
reduction effects of about 86% and 60% are achievedby the gasification/melting furnace and medical

waste furnace, respectively, the latter being lower due
to the somewhat poorer efﬁciency of that furnace.
Another feature that should be mentioned here isthat the power generated by the plant has been
approved as a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
This is because biomass (paper scraps, wood chips,etc.) included in industrial waste has been deemeduseful in generating power as an alternative form ofenergy. The price of this power is consequently a bit
higher than that generated by ordinary industrial
waste.
The mixture rate of biomass is calculated twice amonth from analysis. It was found to be at the 39%
level last year, but recent data have shown it to have
dropped below 30%. As part of the electric powersold, this 30% is power targeted as RPS.
Japan’s RPS law obligates power companies toself-generate or purchase alternative forms of energy
at or above a certain amount. Biomass including
paper scraps, wood chips, etc. is considered to be one
type of alternative energy.
Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power Co., Ltd.
Business Scheme
Shareholders
Tokyo Electric Power Company (largest power company in Japan): 73%
Tokyo Electric Power Environmental Engineering Co., Inc. (subsidiary of Tokyo
Electric Power): 7%
Ebara Corporation (environmental facilities manufacturer): 12%
SHIMIZU CORPORATION (general construction ﬁrm): 5%
ORIX Eco Services (environmental management and consulting ﬁrm): 3%
Premises
Reclaimed land being purchased from Tokyo Metropolitan Government (basic
agreement concluded)
Funding
Funds received from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ministry of theEnvironment
Business Scope
Acceptance of waste
Waste treatment and power generation
Facilities operation and management
Processing Facilities
Industrial waste
Fluidized bed gasiﬁcation system with melting furnace
Capacity: 275 tons/year × 2 trains
Infectious medical waste incinerator
Capacity: 50 tons/year × 2 trains; one for regular use, one for backup
Power Capacity
23,000 kW; excess power sold to Tokyo Electric Power
Processing Capacity
Industrial waste
550 tons/year (about 165 thousand tons/year)
Infectious medical waste
50 tons/year (about 18 thousand tons/year)

DynamoPlastic Waste Management InstituteWeb site: http://www.pwmi.or.jp

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Sumitomorokko Bldg., 1-4-1 Shinkawa Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0033 Japan
Tel: 81-3-3297-7511, Fax: 81-3-3297-7501