Only 7.7% disposed of after a year

April 13, 2012

7.7% of quake debris recycled / Rate remains low as firms fear causing anxiety among locals

The Yomiuri Shimbun

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120412005114.htm

Of the 1.81 million tons of debris that has been disposed of from the three prefectures hit hardest by the Great East Japan Earthquake, only 140,000 tons, or 7.7 percent, have been recycled by private companies, according to Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry data.

After the Great Hanshin Earthquake, about 50 percent of detritus from the disaster was ultimately recycled. The recycling rate for ordinary waste in fiscal 2010 was 20.8 percent.

Recycling has been hampered by companies' concern over the repercussions for them of local residents' fears regarding radiation, as well as differing levels of commitment between the Environment Ministry and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry. The situation may worsen the already slow pace of debris disposal.

The March 11, 2011, disaster generated a total of 22.46 million tons of debris. Generally, the waste is sorted into categories--such as wood, concrete and other materials--at temporary storage sites.

The debris is then finally disposed of by recycling companies or local governments that use it for land reclamation projects.

One of the ways companies recycle debris is by burning wood chips at high temperatures to produce ash for material used to make cement.

In summer last year, the Japan Fiberboard and Particleboard Manufacturers Association, an industry association of makers of wooden boards used in the walls and floors of buildings, decided to recycle debris from the March disaster.

The association planned to crush wood debris into small pieces, which would would then be compressed and solidified with adhesive into boards.

The association planned to recycle 1,000 tons of debris a month at a factory of a manufacturing firm in Ibaraki Prefecture.

However, the association withdrew the plan after organizers of the Kyoto Gozan Okuribi fire festival canceled a plan to burn firewood made from pine trees in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture, in August last year. The association said it wanted to avoid worrying local residents.

Although 75 percent of the debris from the disaster-hit areas has been moved to temporary storage sites, only 8.1 percent of the total had been finally disposed of as of April 2.

The Environment Ministry has said it wants to complete the final disposal of all disaster debris by March 2014. However, the low recycling rate may hamper efforts to reach this goal.

In mid-March, METI was asked by the Environment Ministry via the Cabinet Secretariat to encourage companies to recycle debris.

METI asked seven industries, such as cement and paper manufacturers, to tell it by the end of March how much debris they would be able to accept for recycling.

But officials of the industries said such numerical figures might be misinterpreted as actual targets. As a result, METI's work to compile the answers has been stalled.

"The basic principle is that each local government should dispose of waste, so it's unreasonable to put the burden on companies," one METI official said. "The Environment Ministry couldn't resolve the problem on its own, so it forced it upon us."