## Chapter 1

# The world in transition, and Japan’s efforts to establish a Sound Material-Cycle Society

The 20th century saw the world move toward economic growth and the emergence of a mass-production and mass-consumption society in developed countries. However, developments in the 20th century also caused the collapse of the primitive sound material-cycle (SMC) society and produced major environmental problems, including pollution and dioxin problems. Japan, which achieved rapid economic growth in the latter half of the century, also faced pollution and other serious environmental problems and sought ways to solve them. In recent years, Japan has dedicated itself to the solution of the waste management problems which followed the previous environmental problems and has been creating a new SMC Society. The nation's new challenge is to take an integrated approach to the establishment of a low-carbon society in order to counter the major problem of global warming, to create a society in harmony with nature that helps conserve ecosystems and will allow people to enjoy the blessings of nature for many years to come, and to establish a SMC Society.

On the other hand, the 21st century, which has been called the century of the environment, is seeing rapid economic growth in developing countries, especially in Asia, and the associated generation of huge amounts of wastes. As waste management problems become more serious, there is a growing need to address problems such as global warming and the security of resources, which are expected to be in short supply as demand increases.

With these developments in mind, we reevaluates the primitive SMC Society that Japan created in the Edo era and examines the process that has been underway since about 2000 to establish a new SMC Society in Japan. The experience gained by Japan has involved the creation of many technologies, frameworks and systems which should have the potential to make a major contribution not only to Japan’s future ability to establish a SMC Society but also to its integrated efforts to create a low-carbon society and a society in harmony with nature, in keeping with the mottoinai spirit (not being wasteful with goods), and will assist the formulation of future policy measures by other countries, including developing countries.

## Section 1 The international situation related to waste management

The amount of global waste generation is increasing as the economy and population continue to grow, all around the world, especially in Asia (Figure4-1-1).

A forecast on municipal solid waste generation in the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030) estimates that the total waste generation in the OECD member states in 2005 was about 1.7 times the amount in 1980, and that the 2025 amount will be about 2.2 times the 1980 figure (Figure4-1-2).

A wider variety of wastes is also emerging, including medical wastes and so-called e-wastes, or electrical and electronic wastes such as TVs, personal computers and refrigerators after which become unusable. Some of these wastes contain hazardous substances or cause infection and must be treated with special care.

In January 2008, a serious incident related to waste management occurred in Naples, Italy. The city’s final disposal site reached full capacity and the wastes that had no other “outlet” were left on street corners (Figure4-1-3).

## (1) International recycling of waste

Meanwhile, the prices of natural resources are soaring due to increasing demand for natural resources, especially in China. Demand is also growing for certain circulative resources (CRs) distributed for commercial gain, such as metal scrap, used paper and waste plastic, as the economies of China and other East Asian countries develop. As a result, imports of such CRs into these countries have surged recently. For example, steel scrap exports from Japan almost tripled from approximately 2.81 million tons in 2000 to approximately 7.63 million tons in 2006 (Figure4-1-4).