relating to the recycling of plastic products not covered by the Containers and Packaging Recycling Act and the recycling of food waste; and (3) undertaking demonstration projects relating to the collection, cleaning, and local reuse of used bottles.

Figure 3-5-2 Concept of Urban and Suburban Local Recycling Zones

## Urban and Suburban Local Recycling Zones

## Flow of Resource Recycling

• Existing infrastructure and arterial and venous industry cluster bases work together to promote the efficient utilization of recyclable resources produced in large quantities as waste by urban areas

## Recycling Hubs

• Coordination with venous industry clusters

• Facilities for the production of fertilizer and feed from food waste

• Facilities for the production of gas from food waste

• Facilities for sorting plastics and producing industrial raw materials (sorting centers)

• Sewage treatment plants and garbage disposal facilities for municipal solid waste

• Private waste treatment facilities

## Environmental Businesses and Job Creation

• Joint disposal of municipal solid waste and industrial waste

• Consolidation of local governments' waste treatment facilities (reduction in public finance)

• Collaboration with urban transport and energy usage sectors

## New Environmental Activities

• Utilization of eco-action points and popularization of eco-mark products

• Utilization of reusable containers at the citizen and NPO level, and collaborative interaction with rural areas, etc.

• Stimulation of local communities' environmental activities

• Promotion of green product purchasing

• Increase the number of recycling stations and collection boxes and improve citizen services

Figure 3-5-4 Concept of Recycling-Oriented Industry (Wide-Area) Local Recycling Zones

## Recycling-Oriented Industry (Wide-Area) Local Recycling Zones

Source: Ministry of the Environment

## Flow of Resource Recycling

• Utilization of the functions possessed by eco-towns and other recycling industry clusters, and focusing on wide-area resource recycling systems as well as collaborating with urban areas and the arterial industry, to promote recycling a diverse range of recyclable resources

## Recycling Hubs

## · Eco-town facilities

• Home electronics and office automation equipment recycling centers; automobile recycling centers; small-appliance recycling centers

• Plastics recycling facilities (sorting centers, RPF, plastic bottle recycling, etc.)

• Construction recycling facilities

• Various food recycling facilities (production of fertilizer, feed and gas)

## Environmental Businesses and Job Creation

• Use of private industry to create new environmental business

• Creation of business that is connected with systems capable of making thorough use of commercial product waste (home electronics, office automation equipment, automobiles, etc.)

• Thorough small-appliance recycling business hubs (pre-disassembly and pre-processing)

• Business hubs for the thorough utilization of food and plastics

## New Environmental Activities

• Promotion of experimental studies on new recycling technologies

• Expansion of eco-town and biomass town projects

• Cultivation of human resources capable of building up a sound material-cycle society that utilizes the cluster functions of the venous industry

Source: Ministry of the Environment

Figure 3-5-3 Concept of Arterial Industry Local Recycling Zones

## Arterial Industry Local Recycling Zones

Source: Ministry of the Environment

## Flow of Resource Recycling

• Efficient utilization of bases held by cement, steel, refining, paper-making, scientific, electric power and other arterial industries

• Acceptance of various waste products and recycled products as industrial raw materials and energy

## Recycling Hubs

• Various production facilities (utilization as industrial raw materials)

• Various large-scale boiler facilities

• Refining facilities (rare metals collection)

## Environmental Businesses and Job Creation

• Reflected in product designs that contribute to the 3Rs

· Rare metals collection business

· Coordination with eco-towns and other

venous industry clusters

New Environmental Activities

• Promotion of zero emission initiatives

## 4 Guidelines for Promoting Local Recycling Zone

Local recycling zone creation promotes the cyclical use of local resources, cultivates human resources capable of carrying out the task of building a sound material-cycle society, and revitalizes local communities. For these reasons, it is hoped that local recycling zone creation initiatives will catch on nationwide. The Ministry of the Environment is developing guidelines for promoting the creation of local recycling zones. The aim of these guidelines is to promote local recycling by providing specific project models and laying out the flow for creating the concept and vision.

These guidelines establish three central axes for local recycling zone creation: (1) appropriate and efficient resource recycling; (2) resource recycling incorporating regional characteristics; and (3) resource recycling providing vitality to the community. From these, twelve key concepts are developed (see Figure 3-5-5).

## Section 6 Community Cohesion That Protects Biodiversity

The Great East Japan Earthquake, which struck last year, has caused people to reconsider the importance of interpersonal cohesion. Because of this change in awareness, people are realizing once more that interpersonal cohesion and connections within communities are also important to the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of nature. This way of thinking is not a wild idea: it is surely the natural conclusion reached when thinking about what biodiversity actually is.

Biodiversity represents the diverse, interrelated existence of different ecosystems, species, and individual creatures. We humans also represent part of this biodiversity; we

are a part of the ecosystem, and cannot exist without its bounty. The people with the greatest power to protect local biodiversity are the people who live in the local areas where it is found. It is the people who live and work in a given region who reap most of the natural bounty of that region (and also its disasters), making it extremely important that initiatives be carried out locally. This section examines initiatives in the Ogasawara Islands and a variety of other regions, in order to explore the role of the local community and the wisdom that has been passed down within these communities.