### Section 2. Current Situation of the generation, circulative use and disposal of wastes

With a central focus on those waste and recycling activities that are working for the establishment of a Sound Material-Cycle Society, here is a detailed description of the situation of the generation, circulative use and disposal of

### 1. The material flow of our country

## (1) The material flow of our country

As a first step to the establishment of a Sound Material-Cycle Society, it is essential to know the amount of resources we are collecting, consuming and dumping.

Moreover, in order that a Sound Material-Cycle Society can be established, the Second “Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society (a Cabinet decision in March 2008, hereafter called the “Fundamental Plan for a Sound Material-Cycle Society”) has set new goals for the indexes concerning the “Inlet”, “Outlet” and “Cycle” of materials (Table 2-1). This refers to the three different sections of the material flow (meaning the flow of materials and goods), where appropriate and balanced measures for reduction, reuse, recycling and disposal of resources should be developed.

It has also set goals for effort indexes to measure the progress of efforts toward the establishment of a Sound Material-Cycle Society (Table 2-2).

In the following, based on the Material Flow Accounts (MFA) used for the understanding of the entire flow of materials in the economy of our country, we are going to give an overview of the total flow of materials, the problems highlighted in our analysis and the present situation of the goals of the material flow set-up in the Fundamental Plan for a Sound Material-Cycle Society.

### A. A general view of the material flow of our country

When we examine the material flow of our country in Fiscal 2007, there were 1.8 billion tons of total material input, and 710 million, about a half, were used in the con-wastes, national countermeasures and individual activities, as well as international measures for the establishment of a Sound Material-Cycle Society.

construction of buildings and infrastructures. Moreover, 180 million tons were exported as products, 510 million tons were used in the energy consumption and manufacturing process and 590 million tons of wastes were generated. Out of these items, 240 million tons were subjected to cyclical use, equivalent to 13.5% of the total material input amount (Figure 2-1).

Details of the material flow of our country are as follows.

## (a) Considering the “Total Material Input Amount”

The total material input amount for fiscal 2007 was 1.8 billion tons, which was 84% of the 2.14 billion tons for fiscal 2000.

Table 2-1 Numerical targets of the Second Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society in 2015 (material flow indexes)

Index	Target
Resource productivity* $ ^{1} $	420,000 yen/ton
Recycling rate* $ ^{2} $	14 to 15%
Final disposal volume	23 million tons
Resource productivity except input of soil and stone resources	770,000 yen/ton
GHG emissions derived from waste sector (collaboration with efforts toward low-carbon society)	Decrease in CO $ _{2} $ emissions: 7.8 million tons* $ ^{3} $

*1: Resource productivity = GDP / Input of natural resources, etc.

*2: Recycling rate = Recycling volume / (Recycling volume + Input of natural resources, etc.)

Source: Ministry of the Environment