## (3) Development of basic infrastructure

The government will implement measures to develop basic infrastructure for CRs. An example of this will be to provide support for regional model projects that help create a SMC and for the formulation of recycling-oriented community visions, with the aim of sharing and disseminating information to communities across Japan regarding outstanding contributions made by key contributors to recycling-oriented community development, such as municipal governments, NPOs and enterprises. Since FY 2005, the government has been implementing an assistance program that provides subsidies to promote the establishment of a SMC rather than the construction of waste disposal facilities, in order to support municipalities developing systems for the efficient recovery of resources and energy from wastes by building disposal facilities for municipal solid waste, based on their own voluntary and creative efforts. In addition to this, assistance will be provided for projects aimed at establishing SMC blocks. This will include active financial support for projects to build facilities for the effective use of regional waste-derived biomass.

Human resources for promoting a SMC will also be enhanced in terms of both quality and quantity. Specifically, this will involve prompting industry, academia and government, including enterprises, universities, research institutes, central and local governments and NGOs/NPOs, to foster people-to-people exchanges as well as information exchange. In particular, the development of coordinators will be promoted through the nurturing of young researchers at universities, through the transmission of technologies in industries and universities from one generation to the next, and through people-to-people exchanges between NGOs/NPOs. In addition, the government will foster improvements in the capabilities of leaders, including central and local government officials and teachers engaged in environmental education and learning, by expanding their training programs.

As mentioned in Chapter 2, a prerequisite to the establishment of SMC blocks is that every entity involved plays its part through cooperation and collaboration with all others (linking ability). In particular, in order to strengthen such collaboration, local governments play a key role in promoting the establishment of regional SMCs and are expected to act as an essential coordinator between different entities. For example, they are expected to foster cooperation between companies from different sectors and provide a framework for their collaboration. To be more specific, the prefectural government should take the lead in aligning the efforts of the municipal governments and other entities involved, approaching the issues from a broad perspective. The municipal government should play its role as the fundamental governing body closely related to citizens' lives by carrying out activities such as the construction of a local circulation system. At the same time, the prefectural and municipal governments all need to work in close cooperation.

There are many kinds of information to sive the base of each entity’s efforts: domestic material flows, the amounts of different types of waste generated, the cyclical use and disposal of different types of waste, future prospects, technical data on wastes (e.g., materials, composition, design), and the environmental effects of the use and disposal of wastes. It is essential that a system to gather all this statistical information be immediately reviewed and improved so that accurate information can be obtained swiftly.