
A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report publishedsays that we should all be learning from the Japanese when it comes to waste management. They have dealt with some huge industrial waste management issues since the 1960′s.
Where once cities such as Kawasaki and Kitakyushu were very heavily polluted through local industry, they now have much less air pollution and better air quality. Some Japanese cities have redeveloped themselves as eco-cities with a wide range of recycling and environmental programmes, this was as a direct result of an ‘eco-towns’ project which was a government programme initiated in 1997.
The key, according to the report, is to do as Japan has done and turn pollution and waste challenges on their head, using them to create opportunities. To promote the 3Rs – ‘Reducing, Reusing & Recycling’.
Since the 60′s Japan has implemented government policy and introduced systems that hold industry responsible for the treatment/disposal of their own waste. Over the course of time this has had the desired affect of creating more and more waste management firms and created a booming waste businesses!
The report concludes by urging the decision-makers in the many countries around the world that are rapidly industrialising to follow the example set and to look for solutions to the major problem of industrial waste that lay before them.
Find out more about this report by clicking here