Redesigningcommunities

MEGURUSTATION®

Accelerating the development of MEGURU STATION®
to address community, business, and social issues

Four major community challenges

Business issues

Population drain

Promoting a circular economy
Providingcomprehensivesolutions to allthese issues

Declining employment
opportunities
Aging and shrinking population

Developing a circularbusiness model
Making greater use ofrecycled resources

Rising costs of social
security programs

Dealing with plastic waste
Global environmental issues

Depleting natural resources
Surging energy consumption© AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

Climate change1

Redesigningcommunities

MEGURUSTATION®

MEGURU STATION®
is a resource-collection site that promotes mutually supportive engagement among community residents

Collecting
sortedhousehold
garbage andrecycling it into
usableresources

Using ICT
solutions to encouragecommunity residents toparticipate in resourcecirculation efforts andengage with otherresidents

Promoting
local businesses
and residents'
well-being

Building amutually
supportivecommunity
around thestation© AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

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Redesigningcommunities

M E G U RUS TAT I O N ®

Assisting in caring for andwatching over children

Value MEGURU STATION® offers
Sites of proof-of-concept field tests

01

Tachiarai, Fukuoka; Kobe, Hyogo; Ikoma, Nara; Minamisanriku, Miyagi

02 Resource circulation

Mutually supportivecommunity

Assisting in watchingover the elderly
Promoting intergenerational
engagement among residents

Selling local specialties
Offering trial use ofnew productsCollecting sorted
household garbage

Reduce costs of social security and welfare programs
Municipalities

Reduce environmental management costs
Municipalities

Residents

Residents

Use information about consumer trends andresource consumptionBusinesses© AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

Optimizing the supply-and-demand balance ofresources and products

Costs of collecting, transporting, incinerating,and putting household waste into landfills

Live more ecological and comfortable lives andbecome more environmentally conscious

Make residents feel more securefrom being able to engage with others andlive in a mutually supportive community

Collecting of usedproducts directly from end
users by manufacturers
for recycling

Benefits

Benefits

Costs of medical care, single-household support,
and childcare support

Flea markets for used items
Everything-is-free stores

Discarding garbage any day of the week
and making everyday lives more ecologicalEngage in a circular economy andreduce procurement risks for materials
Businesses

Collecting the makers' own branded products for recycling,and establishing a closed-loop resource procurement system

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Redesigningcommunities

MEGURUSTATION®

Verifying MEGURU STATION®'s benefits to people’s
Ikoma, Nara
health and well-being
Sites of proof-of-concept field tests

Project for
FY 20212019: AMITA managed the station under contractfrom the Ikoma city hall.
From 2020 to 2023: The community association had
been managing it with a subsidy from the city hall.

MEGURU STATION®
designed for Ikoma
The number ofresident visitors*
during 2021:

7,125

data

01

CommunityCenter
Community center
located right next tothe station andmanaged by theassociation

Conducted joint research with the Center of Preventive Medical Sciences
at Chiba University.
The research proved scientifically that MEGURU STATION® had a positive psychosocial impact
on the health and well-being of residents who regularly used it over the six-month period.

Resident users were
found to have greater
opportunities in:
I feel more positive
about what I dodata

02

01
Engagingwith others

02

Engaging incommunity
service03

Engaging incommunity
activities

Residents who used the station (n=136)
Residents who did not use the station (n=295)

51.5 ％

04
Going out

69.1％

Furthermore, among residents who used the station, more significant changes in mental
state were observed in those who visited the community center often than in those who
visited less often.
I feel more positive about the future
I feel more positive about what I do

■Visit the center
週1回以上
once or morea week
■ Visit the center
less
週1回未満
than once a week

I feel happier© AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

*Residents have their QR codes scanned at thecounter when they bring in garbage for recycling.

This finding presents an argument for the station's potential to mitigate
people's nursing-care risks and curb cumulative nursing-care costs.

4Redesigningcommunities

M E G U RUS TAT I O N ®

Developing and testing an urban type of MEGURU STATION®
The need for a mutually supportive community is becoming
evident, not just in rural areas but also in urban areas.

Kobe, Hyogo

AMITA signed a contract with the Kobe city hallProjectAssisting in developing and managing a system to collect plastic wastefrom residents for recycling

Periods

Contract period: From June 30, 2021, through March 31, 2022
Field test: From November 1, 2021, through January 31, 2022

Outline

KobeCommunity
Support Center2

Supportingorganizations

F

Result ofuser survey© AMITA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

Sites of proof-of-concept field tests

We set up a dedicated plastic-waste collection site in Kobe
to increase the recycling rate of plastic waste in the city.
The station also served as a community hub that
promoted mutually supportive engagement amongresidents, which was the first of its kind in Japan.

The number ofregistered users :455

This was a prototype of an urban MEGURU STATION®.
Members of J-CEP and other organizations in diverse industries
joined forces in this project.

90% resident
users support
continued
operationThe program has been extended
beyond the test period
at the request of residents.

Residents like itso muchthat it has
turned into anongoingprogram.

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