How to recycle paper
garbage covered with snow in special pink bags Japanese cities are very clean graffiti is difficult to find and often when he found an optimistic message as Find your dream is not uncommon to see men in uniform kneeling scrapping bundles gum off the sidewalk or police issueing tickets for smoking in the street on Sunday, you can see old Japanese men in groups of neighborhoods cleaning Some groups who clean things belong to religious sects.
In the old days garbage was simply divided as it was burnable or not burnable All we had to do was to divide and put them on the day of the correct collection In recent years, a typical area in Japan at least 12 distinctions typesnewspaper trash, cardboard, milk cartons, books and magazines, other paper sizes, rags, cans, bottles, PET bottles, other plastics, and everything doesn t fit into these categories is separated into burnable and non-burnable, with minor exceptions and additions Source Kate Elwood Daily Yomiuri.
Japanese generate waste at a rate of about 1 1 kg per person per day.
Books waste generated per person per year in the municipalities of some countries 1 United States 1 600 pounds; 2 Australia 1500; 3 Canada 1450; 4 Iceland 1250; 5 Norway 1150; 6 Netherlands 1,250; 7 Luxembourg 1100; 8 France 1050; 9 Denmark 1000; 10 875 Japan; Belgium 11 800; Switzerland 12 800; Hungary 13 775; 14 775; 15 Spain 700; 16675 Italy; 17 Poland 650; Portugal 18 625; 19 Greece 600; 20600 Mexico Source Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Much of Japan's garbage is taken into garbage trucks that play music or running a simple melody repeated to let people know they are coming The trash men often run in their work People can lose face if their trash bags are not properly tied in some places ravens rip open garbage bags that are not properly covered.
Although most hikers Mt Fuji are very careful not to litter, the sheer number of them cause piles of garbage in the pill around garbage cans In response to criticism about the trash, regular cleaning crews garbage along the trails and eco -Friendly toilets were installed some of the most advanced and cost 40,000 incinerate waste, leaving behind the ashes that is fed to the bottom of the mountain there is also biological toilets that use microbes to break down the waste, but the capacity is limited, it.
Links on this website WARMING AND RAIN FORESTS JAPAN; ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND POLLUTION IN JAPAN; GROUPS OF RECYCLING AND ENVIRONMENT IN JAPAN; OIL, coal, natural gas and energy in Japan NUCLEAR ENERGY IN JAPAN; solar, wind and alternative energy JAPAN; NATURAL RESOURCES AND JAPAN; WATER IN JAPAN.
Good sites and resources on recycling in 2005 New York Times article on recycling in Japan; Yokohama recycling instructions; Photos good in Japan Archives cleaning photos and Job Junk Collectors, containers and Japan Packaging Recycling Association; Recycling of computers and television; Paper recycling pdf file.
Environmental Groups list environmental groups in Japan; Greenpeace Japan; Friends of the Earth Japan; Tropical Forest Action Network Japan; Amazon Rainforest Foundation Japan.
Good sites and sources of the Ministry of Environment of the Environment; National Institute for Environmental Studies; Environmental quality, a 2003 report; Japan for Sustainability; Japan Times Page environment; Essay on the comparison of Japan and Britain on environmental criteria; Wikipedia article on environmental issues in Japan Wikipedia; NPR story on public works and the environment; Test on forests and the history of Japan; Statistics and Research Japan Environment Association; Japan Statistical Manual and the environment Chapter life; 2010 Edition; New Research Institute of innovative technologies; ; virtual clearinghouse of environmental technologies; Google E-Book Japan in the 21st century, the environment, economy and society in 2005.
well wrapped gifts Japan has been described as a disposable society Many products are sold with great packaging Shoppers are used for apples and pears individually packaged After the French bread is buying it is placed in three bags separated for Keep warm; another to separate from other goods and a third to bring home.
Japanese give a lot of gifts, often wrapped in diapers and fancy packaging layers that ultimately have to be discarded plastic bottles and disposable wooden chopsticks are favored over Japanese recyclable alternative use 25 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year.
Japanese also love to have the latest thing and after they get tired of what they throw and get an even newer model This principle applies even to homes that should last 33 years compared to 77 years in Great Britain, and be torn down and replaced by a new Japan is based on both the creation of new products and pack them carefully to keep their economy is that there is much resistance to certain aspects of the green movement, as it will harm in economic life and the traditional ways of doing things.
The Japanese are also known to throw electronic items that still work and furniture that are still in good condition An industry has grown up around reclaim items that are considered valuable Many of the elements are found in foreign countries and many people who gather are also foreign, sometimes ferry work for the homeless old bicycles, refrigerators and washing machines often end up being shipped to North Korea.
Large amounts of foreign waste mainly from China, Taiwan and South Korea, wash on the shore of Japan Sea of Japan Garbage includes pet bottles, cans, plastic bags, buoys and other stuff from China garbage increased 13 times between the end and the 1990s, late 2000s, but these countries can not be completely blame on recent walk on a beach in the sea of Japan over this I saw, judging by the labels, was from Japan.
To solve the problem of shore waste the Japanese are not only clean their beaches, they are developing computer models to determine where ocean currents push open garage of the ocean and develop programs to collect it before his shore entry .
Trash Japan also finds ways to other places lighters and discarded bottle caps from Japan, Korea and China that floated across the Pacific Ocean to the Midway Islands near Hawaii were blamed for killing albatross chicks Laysan endangered who ingested objects after them because their mothers thought they were food the young birds were unable to digest the plastic and have been destabilized by the researchers who examined the dead chickens found 80 Chinese lighters, with Japanese and Korean script inside.
former Japanese style incinerator is very little landfill space and people are opposed to incinerators placed close to home Fortunately, the Japanese are excellent recyclers Most garbage and Japan non-recyclable waste is disposed of in incinerators 7200 country of 450 million tonnes of household refuge produced annually in Japan, about 80 million tonnes is dumped in landfills and incinerators is burned in 370 million tons.
NIMBY not in my backyard principles apply to incinerators in Japan Most people do not want incinerators placed near their homes concerns about dioxin and other harmful chemicals they produce according to a study Osaka, people living near incinerators were three times more likely to come down with severe disease compared to people living in other areas.
Nippon Steel has developed a gasification melting technology that burns the refuge at 1700 C, which reduces dioxin levels in a sequence from that produced by conventional incinerators.
Efforts to develop a waste of fuel were less successful, potential plants usersprivate say so low quality that factories can not even pay to use more than fuel costs twice more to do than waste simply incinerating.
A question that has become the focus of attention in Japan center is disposal of industrial waste from factories and enterprises waste management and public cleanliness of 1970 regulates the methods of disposal of certain wastes emitted by factories and businesses, such as soot, mud, waste oil and plastic discarded, and other waste industrial waste in Japan totaled 436 6 million tonnes for 2008, which is eight times the volume of waste in general homes and offices waste management and public cleanliness, as revised in June 1997 imposes severe penalties on illegal waste disposal the number of cases of illegal dumping has decreased, but the emergence of several cases of large volume for 2003 and 2004 prompted the Ministry of Environment to increase the number of staff assigned to waste and recycling surveil Source Launches Web-Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan.
The amount of non-industrial waste generated in Japan generally exceeded 50 million tonnes per year since 1990, increased emphasis on recycling in Japan, which has one of the most used paper recycling rates in sites global garbage disposal should reach their limit in a few years, and the burning of waste results in pollution of dioxin, so recycling has become important as a way to reduce the amount of waste Source Web-Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan Japan is one of the world's most effective recycling nations the ratio of used paper collected in Japan in 2010 was 78 3 percent in production volume and the percentage utilization rate the used paper reprocessed in paper manufacturing was 62 5 percent, one of the recycling rate of old papers of the highest recycling rate is 99 percent for aSP halt Japanese reuse more than 50 percent of all household products, including 98 percent of their paper and 96 percent of their glass to make it Citiz Japanese ens are very good on the rules followed established my municipal administrations described on a color-coded calendar that most people keep in their kitchens.
Recycling Machine gives you cash back Households in most places sort items in eight categories and placed outside on collection day in the calendar such as 2nd and 4th Fridays for newspapers, glass and cans and 1st Friday for furniture discarded and other major items of large items such as bicycles or televisions can be collected by paying a fee to the local government picking up the services or give them to people who cruise in small trucks, using a loudspeaker to check the items they collect.
In most places cans, bottles and newspapers are each placed in separate containers and collected twice monthly logs are also collected by the independent garbage collectors who drive trucks and sometimes trade in old newspapers batteries for toilet paper There are special collection days once a month to things like batteries, ceramics, old clothes, furniture, lamps, bicycles, televisions and other items supermarkets have taken to recycling milk cartons, plastic bottles and trays Styrofoam.
In many places, the waste must be separated into burnable and nonburnable elements People who do conform t the rules face trash lady, a local responsible body that toes course everyone the line in some places the deposit Japanese household trash and waste in clear plastic bags with a label with their name on the purpose is to humiliate people who put recyclable cans, bottles or newspapers in a clear bag, everyone can see that happening .
plasterer Kyoto-based Hiroshi Murakami has developed a number of construction materials made from natural materials among these are earthquake resistant wall panels made from recycled paper pulped, soil and hardener based lime.
Toyota and other car manufacturers design cars that are made almost entirely of recyclable materials and the design of systems to remove and process these materials A law came into affect in 2005 requires car owners to pay a disposal fee when they toss their automakers and cars are required to have plastic tissue waste, air bags and other materials CFC air conditioners are supported by traders scarp metals.
The basic law for the establishment of a society based on cycle was adopted in 2000 as a basis for a comprehensive and systematic approach to waste and recycling It was followed by a number of other new recycling laws covering specific areas such as home appliances, food waste, construction materials, automobiles and personal computers Ibid.
Internationally, Japan proposed the 3R initiative at a G8 summit in 2004, approved by the G8 countries, the initiative aims to globally promote the 3Rs reduce, reuse and recycle targets for reducing the amount of waste, reuse materials where possible and then recycle them when they can be reused t.
The implementation of the Receptacle Packaging Recycling Law in April 1997 placed the responsibility of polyethylene terephthalate recycling of PET bottles, glass bottles, and paper and plastic packaging to the manufacturer These containers include 20-30 percent of the total weight of general waste matter discarded by households, but, because of their size, they occupy 60 percent of the total volume This law is based on a division of the cost of waste disposal companies, consumers and municipalities, compared to when disposal costs were formerly covered by taxes when consumers discard a receptacle, they are required to presort for the municipality designated pickup areas where they were collected for recycling by manufacturers.
Since April 2000, paper and plastic packaging will also be subject to recycling under this Act electrical products discarded by Japanese households are almost all disposed of in landfills Specific household appliance recycling law was passed in 1998 to reduce the volume as the removal of landfills.
Recycling plastic, platinum and organic materials in Japan.
Japanese uses 30 billion plastic bags and collectively lose tens of thousands of plastic umbrellas every year.
There is a major push in Japan to get customers to reduce their use of plastic bags in stores and supermarkets Some stores charge for plastic bags or offer customers discounts if they bring their own bags Other give free reusable bags studies have shown that when customers are given free bags almost everyone takes them when bags cost 4 cents only 30 percent take them when they cost 8 cents only 8 percent take.
Japan is one of the first countries to go into recyclable and biodegradable plastics in large PET bottles polyethylene terephthalate resin are collected are processed into polyester or new high quality bottles Asahi Breweries has dressed some of its employees in uniform made from recycled plastic bottles.
The price paid for the used PET bottles increased from 2 to 6 times in the middle and late 2000s due to the demand of Chinese enterprises for PET bottles Plastics are washed and crushed and sold to textile manufacturers recyclable resins they contain can be used in producing artificial fibers and plastics and demand for them has increased the price of oil soaring.
Tokyo Tsukiji fish market produces 90 tons of waste per day, the equivalent of a city with 90,000 About 50 percent of the waste is in the form of paper, styrofoam and cardboard boxes They are placed in five meters tall stacks that are taken to recycling centers in China that produce 50 millimeter pellets that are sold to manufacturers of video tapes, hangers, combs, buckets and other objects About 30 tonnes of tuna waste is created each day most of them are collected by a manufacturer of cattle feed that summarizes the waste, it builds on the solid and liquid materials and separates the oil from the liquid with a centrifuge oil is used in margarine, soap and cosmetics solid waste are processed into chicken feed and farmed fish such as yellow.
metal rarely used pedestrian bridges in Osaka were dismantled and shipped to Indonesia Even the Shinkansen trains are recycled The trains are first dismantled by heavy machinery and welders It takes about a day to take a car apart The pieces are then shipped a recycling contractor which sort coins aluminum, steel and non-ferrous metal parts having a value other are sold are crushed and sorted with machines metal reuse rate is 91 percent.
In June 2011, the largest supermarket chain Aeon Co and Japan retailerannounced he uses grocery bags made of polyethylene plastic sugarcane their outlets Polyethylene is ethanol made from liquid waste that remains after the extraction of sugar from sugar cane juice bags will be sold all their 750 stores in supermarkets at a cost of five yen each Aeon has been selling in the neighborhood of 170 million plastic bags per year for their clients.
The company based in Kobe Kadokura developed a technique to transform felt clothing used in a hard building material that can be sawed and hammered.
In July 2011, the Yomiuri Shimbun Japanese companies have successfully developed a new system that recycles PET bottles into high quality materials adapted to the brand new bottles Suntory Holdings Ltd and Kyoei Industry Co a society based on Oyama prefecture, Tochigi recycling, processes and sells plastic resin, said the new production process can reduce the amount of oil used and also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide Source Yomiuri Shimbun, July 14, 2011.
The PET bottle recycling system in the new mark was made possible largely because companies have developed a method for removing impurities which become embedded on the inner surface of plastic bottles used but are too small to see with the naked eye.
used PET bottles mainly collected household are classified in plant Kyoei, where a total of 25 process, including being crushed into small pieces and washed with alkaline liquids, eliminate them more impure substances, Kyoei uses a machine bought from a European manufacturer and modified over a period of five years the machine creates a vacuum condition very similar to that of the stratosphere therefore, chemicals and other substances are completely eliminated the resin, which is then recycled into a suitable high quality material for brand new bottles.
Since May 2011, Suntory factory Haruna Shibukawa, Gunma, began on a trial basis using the recycled resin The factory uses 50 percent of the Kyoei resin and 40 percent of other recycled materials to produce PET bottles of two liters for oolong test -is produced about 10 tons of plastic bottles to confirm the safety of equipment Munehiko Takada, chief of the division of Suntory for the development of new packaging materials, said, Suntory sets remarkably strict standards among beverage manufacturers on issues such as if the taste or the scent of a glass remains unchanged even after storage in bottles for several months at extremely high temperatures, and if the bottles are cracked or bumps after the recycled bottles cleared these standards, Suntory and Kyoei practice them.
Suntory said it wants to establish a new resource as well as consumer recycling system, and plans to use 100 percent recycled materials to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 60 percent, according to the Recycling PET bottles Council, based in Tokyo, about 564 000 tons of plastic beverage bottles have been sold in the nation for 2009 in the amount, municipal governments collected 287,000 tons of bottles and waste companies collected 150,000 tons the total recycling rate was 77 5 percent of these recycled about 158 000 tonnes has become new products Japan containers and packaging recycling Association, based in Tokyo, said that more than half of the collected bottles were transformed into textiles and only 2 5 percent were recycled in brand new plastic bottles.
urban mines were set up to extract rare metals such as platinum and tungsten from cell phones and other small household electrical appliances as well as catalytic converters from cars in some places, there are boxes collection for cell phones discarded and digital cameras one such place collects 210 kg of aircraft per month, and send them to a recycling center that shred Ten to 15 tons of platinum is recovered from old cars annually however, platinum global production, mainly from Russia and South Africa, is only 100 tons.
According to the survey of the National Institute for Materials Science NIMS total volume of metal resources, including gold and silver, which are used in electrical and electronic devices in Japan is the most important, metals exceeding the natural world reserves of many minerals producer.
The survey calculated that in Japan there were about 6800 tons of gold, worth 20 billion and equivalent to 16 percent of total reserves in the world's gold mines; 60,000 tons of silver, 23 percent of world reserves; and 1700 tons of iridium, or 61 percent of the world reserves For these calculations Japan has more gold than South Africa and more money, lead and iridium that any one nation.
NIMS is studying the best ways to recover rare metals from electrical appliances discarded and other low-cost products, as it is now most devices are simply discarded with recycled electronics, printed circuit boards have tend to be the most valuable.
Cell phones contain more than 10 types of rare materials and metals from a refinery run by Mitsubishi Materials Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, heats the cell phone parts to 1200 C to remove the copper not computer impurities are separated by electrolysis to extract gold and silver and other metals of the metals are converted to metal bars and sold to dealers components that provide materials for electronic parts.
A total of 22 kilograms of gold was recovering from 567,000 cell phones during a government urban mining campaign over a period of three months in 2009 and 1010 more than gold, 79 kilograms of silver, 5,670 kilograms of copper and two kilograms of palladium were collected in Japan, it is thought that 200 million used cell phones.
Japan hopes to intensify its mining efforts in urban areas and raise self-sufficiency in rare metals to 50 percent in 2030.
Japan has about 20 million tonnes of food waste a year, five times the amount that was given as food aid to the world's poor in 2007 In addition to being a food waste food also take space discharge and decomposes producing methane, a greenhouse gas, or is incinerated.
Households are responsible for half of food waste According to an estimate of 6,000 tons of food is thrown away in Tokyo every day in restaurants and other commercial activities.
With prices for animal feed and fertilizer reaching record levels in 2008, there was a greater demand for food pellets for pigs and poultry made from recycled leftovers recycled food is about 50 percent cheaper than regular feed in the past farmers had been reluctant to use, but more regular food prices have made them think again in 2008, yet only 1 percent of the raw material came from recycled food.
Food recyclers tend to use the remains of convenience stores and restaurants where strict health laws require food to be thrown away after one day household food are not used because the food is often in poor condition The government is trying encourage retailers and restaurantswhich produce 11 million tons of food waste per year and often pay large fees for food waster praised awayto closely with feed-recycling companies.
recycle food taken for a plant is first sorted to remove plastic trays skewers and plastic wrap food waste is converted into two types of dry feedone rich in fat and protein and another that is mostly carbohydrates after a final heating processand a type of food liquid is pasteurized drinks and chopped vegetables.
The Japanese food industry recycles 70 percent of its remains About half is turned into feed, 5 percent methane and the rest in fertilizer efforts are underway to draw energy food recycled an experimental program in Tokyo are being ethanol and methane from discarded school meals.
An effort to make fertilizer from recycled food waste and animal feed ended in failure because the fertilizer gave off a stench one that farmers and manufacturers could not keep.
Itsuo Aller to the University of Tokyo has developed an organic waste conversion process such as vegetables thrown-away fertilizer dries quickly to reduce odor and increases its effectiveness as a fertilizer producers in the Tokyo region started using fertilizer produced from waste collected from restaurants and households and are happy with the results.
The high metal prices in the 2000s encouraged thieves to loot auto barriers, chains, electric cables and stainless steel grating used to cover the ditches along the sides of the streets and selling them as scrap metal bells large temple, fire bells, playground slides and water storage basins metal used by farmers have all been targeted by metal thieves of metal theft in 2006 resulted in losses of over 20 million .
Among the items taken were 52 stainless steel cars barriers, worth 4 6 mullion, stolen from Osaka parking entrances; a 100kg taken in Ehime Prefecture tide gate; 38 fire lookout tower bells of a 4-1000000 value stolen in 12 cities and 1027 storm grates worth 8 4 million taken in Ibaraki prefecture Some railroad companies hired guards to prevent thieves take tracks.
It is suspected that the metal was sold to small scrap dealers and has been exported to China Sometimes, metal thieves Restatement sheets and bricks so it could not be identified or linked to its original source Sometimes these tasks were made by scrap dealers.
In November 2006, four men were arrested after stealing 275 metal grids worth 50,000 in Osaka in 2007, more than 150 metal deck plates were stolen bridges Fukushima and Tochigi Most nameplates were 15 centimeters long, 30 centimeters wide and 1 5 cm thick and bronze, they cost between 250 and 350 to make.
In Japan, more than 70 percent of all paper produced is recycled and 60 percent is reprocessed The government is trying to encourage recycling of paper packaging which only 15 percent is recycled.
In January 2008, it was revealed that five major paper companies falsified paper report recycled their paper products The companiesOji Paper, Hokuetsu Paper, Mitsubishi, Nippon Paper and Daio Paper he said the products contain more recycled paper they have done to give the impression that companies are more environmentally conscious than they were in reality and meet new laws that require government offices to buy products that have high levels recycled paper in some cases products were labeled as having 40 percent recycled paper when they had only 1 percent.
Paper recycling truck Much of Japan paper is recycled by independent paper collectors used lurking around trucks and collect recycled newspapers batteries and other paper products in the back of their trucks as the value of recycled paper has increased a number of local government began to crack down against the collectors of paper because they paper they choose is supposed to collect by collectors of local government, depriving these local funds.
In the Shinagawa district of Tokyo, government cars patrolling the streets looking for paper collectors, who if caught are given warnings or tickets with fines of 500 many collectors escape into nearby neighborhoods when a patrol gives chase in Setagaya Tokyo recycler was loaded log robbery and sentenced to a fine of 200,000.
Until the 1990s most recycled paper were collected by independent collectors but many of them have gone bankrupt due to a decrease of cardboard box production after the economic crisis in the 1990s at the time the government local intervened to the task in the 2000s, the demand for paper in China has caused the price of paper used to skyrocket causing a rapid increase in the number and Recyclers.
New laws came into force in April 2001 required appliances, namely air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and washing machines recycled In 2002, laws have been added that require personal computers and industrial waste building recycling in future cars must be recycled.
18 million air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions and washing machines are discarded each year in Japan, they account for only 1 3 percent of all the product shelter, but they take a lot of space and are difficult to break.
Under the statutes of 2001 owners of large appliances bear the responsibility and the cost of transporting items to a recycling center, they usually do this with a fee paid to retailers selling the Replacements Manufacturers are required to recycle their products and of course they pass the costs to consumers This approach was adopted rather than collecting taxes consumers or manufacturers to cover the costs of new laws have led to an increase in illegal dumping.
Large manufacturer requires customers to pay an additional $ 2,400 for a washing machine, 2.700 for TV, 3500 for an air conditioner and 4,600 for the refrigerator to cover recycling costs Customers end up paying about 35 for a washing machine, 40 TV, an air conditioner 50 and 60 for the refrigerator when transport costs are taken into account.
The work done in the recycling centers remains labor intensive Great care must be taken to remove the Freon containers in air conditioners and refrigerators to ensure that no gases that deplete the ozone layer are not released in the care environment must also be taken with televisions that contain lead and other harmful substances and mattresses with box springs that can bring a grinding machine off by winding around hammers.
Once the devices are removed from their reusable parts, they are placed on a conveyor belt which drops them into a grinder that breaks the product in three metal inch pieces These are then separated and classified by a series or magnets, fans, filters and spinners.
Major manufacturers like Mitsubishi now design their products to be easier to recycle using size bracket bolts in an easy to get to places that can be easily removed using standard tools Some even have special symbols that explain the best way to dismantle a product.
In December 2008, flat-panel TVs and clothes dryers added to the mandatory recycling list.
Japan is a leader in eco-technology carbon fiber parts made in Japan are automobiles and airplanes lighter and more fuel efficient cleaning technology for advanced coal plants reduces air pollution.
Japanese companies introduce methods and recycling, water and technology of cleaning air in China Fuji Xerox has built a 6 million factory that collects used copy machines, printers and ink cartridges and requires 64 constituent materials, including steel, aluminum and glass Guangzhou Honda's second plant in Guangdong province was held with the last zero emission technologies, including a water treatment plant that treats the whole water so that it is clean before it is discharged Matsushita uses similar technology in a factory that manufactures cathode ray tubes.
Japan is a leader in clean coal technology, such as the combined cycle IGCC integrated gasification wherein coal is converted into gas to remove impurities prior to combustion; and the combined fuel cycle integrated IGFC gasification wherein gasify the coal reaches a high power generation efficiency with a triple system of gas turbine fuel cell and a steam turbine These systems are still largely empirical at this stage still Japan introduced the technology in China, India and other countries.
View new technologies and the reduction of carbon dioxide, global warming.
Japan as a global green innovative Nathan Gardels, editor of NPQ and the Global Network of view, wrote While the world was focused on Islamist terrorism or the miracle of Chinese growth, the island nation was engaged in a quiet revolution as the incubator of efficient technologies of the future Japan energy is responsible for 50 percent of energy production of solar energy in the world It uses energy 20 percent less to produce tonne of steel than the United States 50 percent less than China Source Nathan Gardels, global Viewpoint, 14 March 2011.
Innovations abound, to capture the energy of the ice, the more efficient plasma screens into energy, to capture the kinetic energy of the bridges that sway when traffic through the installation that housed the media Toya Lake summit G-8 in 2008 was cooled by snow stored in thermal insulation rather than air conditioning as everyone knows, Japan is the leading manufacturer and exporter of hybrid cars, the most famous Toyota Prius Honda has developed a car with hydrogen fuel cell that is being prepared for mass production Komatsu has just produced the world's first hybrid heavy machinery, shovel 20 tons used in construction sites throughout Asia ibid.
Beneath the surface of Japan's faddish consumer society, the frugal culture of an island nation that must wisely the limited resources husband still lives this cultural provision which has been fertile ground for the development of green technology will be supported by the quake and the damage of the tsunami nuclear reactors in Japan, and economic shock in oil prices resulting from the combined effects of the sharp drop in refining capacity because of damaged facilities in Japan and the Arab revolt Ibid.
In recent years, Tokyo has taken several steps to become the greenest city in the world It has 1 reinforced environmental building standards, requiring factories and office buildings to reduce 25 percent of 2000 carbon emissions by 2010; 2 offered financial incentives for people to install solar panels in their homes and banned older diesel trucks on city streets; 3 called for planting or half a million trees and creating roof gardens; 4 product development where large-scale recycling, greenery, reuse of rainwater and wastewater reclamation are all standard features; 4 and converted a discharge of 217 acres in the Tokyo Bay in a forest of the sea and the park.
Tokyo Waterfront Recycle Power Co. runs a disposal facility for waste tip on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, where garbage is trucked recycled and what can t be recycled is burned and filtered, with minimal emissions and requires no filling space land the heat generated is sufficient to provide electricity for 55,000 homes food waste is turned into a special feed system PCB filters and processes that no longer is that after all that Tokyo Waterfront is profit.
High-Rice Husk absorbing charcoal and bamboo and corn resin dishes.
A team of researchers has developed a new technology for activated carbon with high absorption capacity of rice husk team, Nagaoka University of Technology Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, said coal derived stain -Rice has a wide variety of applications, including reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and as a material for fuel cells that can absorb large quantities of hydrogen Source Yomiuri Shimbun, February 19, 2011.
reported Yomiuri Shimbun When rice husks are heated to form charcoal, silicon dioxide remains as by-product and hampers the coal absorption function The research team is able to neutralize silicon dioxide heating the charcoal after mixing in potassium hydrate or sodium hydrate Then, the surface of the charcoal had countless one hole with a diameter of 1 nanometer one nanometer is one-billionth of meter the holes to expand the charcoal of surface area and impregnating the material with a high absorption capacity average surface of the carbon traditional wooden activated is 1000 square meters per gram, but the figure of the newly developed coal is 2 5 times higher than Ibid.
Fuse Co Technonet a semiconductor device manufacturer based in Hachioji, western Tokyo, collaborated on a joint development research with the University team The company sees coal rice husk as a promising material for manufacture of electric poles of the battery, and trying to develop the technology to mass produce as quickly as possible rice husks can be purchased huge amounts of part of the nation, we do not charge t consider this simply as a way to use agricultural waste, but as a new type of industrial equipment, a spokesman for the company said ibid.
Iwamoto Corp. is aa small Osaka company whose motto is manufacturing products environmentally friendly, it has successfully developed a range of plasticlike containers, including tea cups, bowls and trays, using only bamboo fiber and resins extracted from maize, to serve meals to schools, kindergartens, nurseries and elsewhere, we have developed these products to better use bamboo groves that have been left untended, Kazunori Iwamoto, company president, said, Yomiuri Shimbun Our containers keep well, are heat resistant and well adapted to hold kids meals Source Yomiuri Shimbun November 22, 2010.
According to the Agriculture, Forestry Forestry Agency and the Department of Fisheries, bamboo is estimated at 159,000 hectares in the whole region Those countries that are used for commercial purposes such as the production of bamboo shoots and materials construction, only 30 percent to 40 percent of the total, the agency in the past, bamboo was used for a variety of purposes, including the production of agricultural tools, fences, interior design and other items, however, bamboo consumption continued to decline due to changes in lifestyles in recent decades, leading to an increase of abandoned bamboo groves bamboo groves are left untended, grow too large, since the light blocking sunlight from reaching the ground, hindering the growth of other plants Ibid.
Image Sources January 3 Ray Kinnane 2 Japan 4 visitors Doug Mann Photomann 5 6 7 8 Yokohama City, Osaka Gas 9, Oct. 11 Greenpeace, trucks and collectors, Japan picture.
Text Sources New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Yomiuri, London Times, National Tourist Organization Japan JNTO, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet guides, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
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RECYCLING IN JAPAN Facts and details, recycling, Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun Source.