The Economics of Waste Management in East Asia

Masashi Yamamoto, Eiji Hosoda, Masashi Yamamoto, Eiji Hosoda

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317616573
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

The existing literature provides very little information on the real and current process of waste disposal and recycling in China. China generates large amount of waste and it covers about 20 % of the world waste trade. This book focuses on China's waste management and recycling policy.

The book also examines the relationship between China's waste management and recycling industry and its legal structure. It fills in the gap by providing insight into topics on how to resolve China's waste management and recycling problems, theories and empirical studies on waste and management as well as waste management policies in East Asia. It also includes comparative analysis through case studies on other Asian countries such as Thailand and Japan.

Part I

Critical reviews in waste management: theory and empirics

1 Waste policies and related legislation in Japan

Eiji Hosoda

1 Introduction

Legislation relating to waste disposal has a long history. As an economy develops, its socioeconomic structures are transformed. Accordingly, the quality and quantity of the generated waste change. This process leads inevitably to changes in laws and policies around the appropriate disposal and recycling of waste. These changes have a significant impact on the modalities of waste disposal and recycling in the domestic context. In fact, waste-related laws and policies have followed a continuous, if at times meandering, reform path, while the circumstances relating to waste disposal and recycling have continued to change.

In this chapter, I discuss changes in the laws and policies around the appropriate disposal and recycling of waste, showing how waste management policies have interacted with the daily activities of waste disposal and recycling. Although this chapter’s main topic is the basic issues of waste disposal and recycling since the 1990s in Japan, it also discusses issues in early waste disposal and recycling after the Meiji era (1868–1912). It includes these historical references because it is difficult to understand the raison d’etre of the present legislation and policies in waste disposal and recycling without knowing the history.

I demonstrate that the present legislation and policies represented by the Basic Act for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society, the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act (hereinafter, the Waste Management Act), the various individual recycling-related laws, and other provisions have contributed to the reduction of waste emission and the conservation of landfill capacity. At the same time, however, I explain the limitations of the legislation and policies: a large amount of precious potential resources, such as end-of-life products (ELPs), parts and materials (called venous resources), are flowing out of Japan to developing countries. I also note that this export of ELPs in an invisible flow may be regarded as waste export that may cause pollution in developing countries and is strictly regulated by the international agreement known as the “Basel Convention”.¹

With these points in mind, I emphasize that without an appropriate degree of coordinated coupling between the “arterial” economy, which produces, distributes, and sells goods, and the “venous” economy, which collects and transports waste and engages in intermediate disposal, recycling, and landfilling, there will be no further progress in the sound and smooth circulation of resources.² To achieve a sound and smooth interface between the two economies, I underscore the role of product chain control (PCC), of which I give a detailed explanation in Subsection 4.2.

The chapter is structured as follows: Section 2 provides a brief overview of the changes in the Japanese waste management system. Section 3 details the current legal and policy framework relating to waste disposal and recycling, beginning with the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act of 1971, and outlines the ultimate objectives pursued by these various laws and policies for waste disposal and recycling. Section 4 examines the impact on waste disposal and recycling of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which was formulated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and introduced in Japan following various changes. Section 5 presents the limitations of existing legislation and policies relating to waste disposal and recycling and considers the systemic prerequisites for realizing the sound and smooth cyclical use of resources and constructing a circular economy, referencing policies being implemented by the European Union (EU). The final section provides concluding remarks.

2 A short history of waste-related systems

With any type of socioeconomic system, the present situation cannot be discussed without first reviewing the past: for better or worse, future development depends on the development that preceded it. Waste disposal and recycling systems are no exception, and they have developed in accordance with the policies and laws established to date. Any search for a new path toward a circular economy must be conducted with knowledge of the past. This section provides a brief overview of the transformation of the waste disposal and recycling systems in modern Japan.

2.1 Before the waste management act

During the early Meiji Period, foreigners who came to Japan in the employ of the Meiji government were struck by the beauty of the Japanese urban landscape. Although the houses and streets of the towns were beautiful in themselves, the foreigners’ attention was attracted by the quality of sanitation and hygiene in the towns and cities. Rubbish, including house dust and kitchen refuse, was nowhere to be seen, and sewage was returned to the fields as fertilizer, meaning that it did not pollute the towns (Morse, 1917). In the towns and cities of Europe and other regions, where a wave of urbanization had continued since the 18th century, rubbish and sewage disposal were not adequately addressed, leading to unsanitary conditions for residents, who were assailed by a malodorous environment (Schwartz, 1983; Corbin, 1988). In contrast, old Edo, which became the new national capital, Tokyo, after the Meiji Restoration, provided a sanitary environment, and thus, it was natural that foreigners at that time were impressed.

Before the modern era, rubbish and sewage disposal in Japan was relatively systematic, accomplishing an extremely advanced cyclical use of resources. The effective utilization of sewage as fertilizer was noted above, and other resources, such as used paper, iron scrap, used steel implements, rice straw and wood, were thoroughly recycled and reused (Ishikawa, 2013). It is also worth noting that rubbish disposal and sewage treatment were conducted under the administration of local authorities (Oishi, 1988). There was often illegal dumping of rubbish in large cities, such as Edo and Kyoto (Ando, 1993). Local authorities also encountered difficulties securing landfill disposal sites. Yet, even with these various difficulties, issues related to waste disposal were by no means as serious as those witnessed in the modern era.

The above models of waste disposal and recycling largely continued into the Meiji Period. It could be said that the model for modern Japan’s rubbish and sewage disposal methods had its origin in early modern times. However, once Japan experienced industrialization, as one might expect, the systems that had functioned so well were unable to address the realities of an era of expanded production and consumption. In response to this situation, rubbish and sewage disposal came to be controlled through the passage of various laws and regulations. In cities, police writs and other orders were also drafted, transferring waste and sewage treatment to the supervision and administration of central and/or local authorities (Mizoiri, 2007).

Even after these changes, the situation was not sufficient to ensure public sanitation in modern cities, leading to the 1900 passage of the Waste Cleaning Act. The two major characteristics of this act were as follows: first, it sought to promote waste management under the supervision of municipalities, and second, it recommended disposal by incineration (Ministry of Environment, 2014). It is worth noting that these two characteristics have remained in place and are included in contemporary waste administration policies. Incidentally, waste disposal by incineration was prohibited during the Edo period (1603–1867), partly due to concerns about fires. Thus, the encouragement of waste disposal by incineration can be regarded as an epochal change in waste disposal administration from the early modern to the modern period.

The rubbish and sewage disposal activities controlled by the Waste Cleaning Act remained in place after the end of the Second World War. However, it became increasingly difficult to appropriately administer waste disposal under the provisions of this law, which placed responsibility on individual municipal authorities. Cooperation and partnerships were required among national, prefectural, and municipal governments and citizens. In 1954, the Public Cleansing Act was enacted, creating a new structure for rubbish and sewage treatment and disposal in the postwar period. Under this new structure, national and prefectural governments were obliged to provide financial and technological support to municipalities for waste and sewage disposal (Ministry of Environment, 2014). Needless to say, partnerships and cooperation among stakeholders remain key elements of contemporary waste and recycling administration.

However, this law did not distinguish between municipal solid waste and industrial waste, nor did it clarify responsibility for the disposal of waste generated by industrial activities. Whether the waste was generated by households or industry, in principle, the responsibility for waste disposal lay with municipalities. I note that Japan would go on to experience unprecedented economic growth around the time when the law was enacted. While volumes of industrial waste naturally surged during this period of rapid economic growth, municipalities were unable to respond to the surge or take responsibility for the appropriate disposal of this waste. It soon became apparent that there were serious problems with waste disposal based on the Public Cleansing Act.

2.2 After the Waste Management Act

In approximately 1955, Japan began to experience unprecedented levels of economic growth, as already noted. Although there were fluctuations, from 1955 for a period of approximately 18 years, Japan recorded annual growth of approximately 10 percent; this is now referred to as the rapid economic growth period (1955–1973). During this period, a massive increase in investment led to expansion in the industrial scale and changes in the industrial structure. At the outset, growth was supported by the mining and textile industries; however, as time passed, major growth shifted to the processing and assembly industries for mechanical products, such as automobiles, and the chemicals industry.

The volume of waste produced increased in line with this economic growth. The 6.21 million tons of waste produced in 1955 increased 4.5 times to 28.7 million tons by 1970 (Ministry of Environment, 2014). Although household waste increased, the amount of industrial waste similarly increased. In an economy in which industry had become highly developed, it was difficult for industrial waste to be appropriately managed and disposed of under the supervision of municipalities. The need for household and industrial waste to be separately classified and disposed of was gradually recognized, leading to debate about the need to amend the relevant laws.

The period of rapid economic growth was also one in which industrial pollution intensified. Inappropriate disposal and illegal dumping of industrial waste generated environmental destruction. Additionally, another type of environmental pollution occurred: smoke, particulate matter, and waste water discharged by industrial activities led to air pollution and water contamination, and threats to public health thus emerged as a social issue. To respond to these serious threats, the 61st extraordinary session of the Diet, convened in 1970, passed 14 acts relating to the prevention of environmental pollution. One of these acts was the Waste Management Act.

The Waste Management Act has since been revised on numerous occasions; however, its underlying concept has remained largely unchanged, and its basic structure remains in place today. There are various differences between the Waste Management Act and the Public Cleansing Act; however, for the purposes of this chapter, I refer to the most characteristic difference: for the first time, a clear distinction was made between municipal solid waste and industrial w...