# Japan's history of responsible disposal of waste, from the Meiji to Heisei eras

## (1) From the Meiji to early Showa eras

As Japan entered the Meiji era, with large-scale industries and urban areas starting to develop, the government clarified the methods of waste disposal to be used. Although waste disposal during this period was much the same as that in the Edo era, the mottainai-based lifestyle gradually changed as Western cultures were imported. People began throwing away goods that had once been effectively reused or recycled, resulting in an increase in both waste quality and quantity. It was about this time that the government began promoting the construction of large-scale waste disposal sites.

Also, as Japan’s exchange with foreign countries increased, infectious diseases such as cholera and the plague were brought into Japan from overseas. The plague epidemic at the end of 1887 prompted the country to address the issue of waste and night soil disposal from the viewpoint of public hygiene. Consequently, the Unsanitary Substance Cleaning Law was instituted in 1900 in order to assign responsibility for waste disposal to municipal governments. In accordance with this law, the Tokyo City Government started collecting waste generated in central Tokyo. Records show that the daily amount of waste produced in Tokyo was approximately 800 tons, which translates into a per capita amount of approximately 290 grams, given that the population at that time was about 2.75 million.

## (2) The Post-World War II period (before the period of high economic growth)

After World War II, farmers stopped using night soil as fertilizer because of the widespread availability of chemical fertilizer and because of the major changes in farm villages triggered by the process of agrarian reform. With the loss of the traditional disposal methods, night soil disposal posed a problem. Waste disposal became another serious problem as the Japanese economy entered the postwar recovery period, accelerating urban development. In those times, waste and night soil were dumped in the ocean or in landfills. Many landfill sites were unsanitary and bred large numbers of mosquitoes and flies (Figures4-2-5).

Japan instituted the Public Cleansing Law in 1954. With the stipulated aim of improving public hygiene, this law was intended to enhance the waste disposal system by

Figure 4-2-5 Trends in waste disposal methods

(Note) The data for FY 1970 and before are total waste production in the special cleaning districts under the Public Cleaning Law. The FY 1975 data do not include waste directly brought in, such as waste associated with house-moving.

Source: Ministry of the Environment

making the municipal governments responsible for providing sanitation services and defining disposal zones through the establishment of a special sanitation zone system. In other words, following on from the concept of the Unsanitary Substance Cleaning Law, this new law defined waste and night soil as “unsanitary substances” and sought to dispose of them for public hygiene reasons so that a sanitary and comfortable living environment could be maintained.

In the Showa 30s (1955-1964), the production of chemical fertilizer increased as the economy grew. The widespread availability of chemical fertilizer throughout Japan led to falling demand for night soil on farms, forcing municipal governments in urban areas to address the problem of developing new waste and night soil disposal technologies. This was a time of great difficulty for the municipal administration for waste management because major changes in both the quantity and quality of waste produced during this period of rapid economic growth distorted the traditional frameworks that had previously been used for waste disposal.

In 1963, the government set up the First Five-Year Plan for Development of Living Environment Facilities, presenting the principles of its new urban waste disposal policy involving incineration, with residues disposed of in landfills. This prompted municipal governments in urban areas to construct incinerators. By defining incineration and residue landfill as the basic method for urban waste