The Global Recycling Foundation The World Recycling Day celebrates every March 18, a day in which the importance of waste reuse is claimed, and in which different projects that promote this activity are also rewarded. A place that has become a reference for recycling has been Japan, not only for having been promoted by the Government, but also thanks to the roots of a life method that has led to seeking zero residue.
Mottainai, the Japanese concept of recycling
Japan has been proposed as a goal for 2030 reduce plastic production to 25%, being the second largest producer of this material after the United States. In addition, the objective of recycling the components of appliances and cars for 2035 has also been imposed to the same extent.
An objective that would seem difficult for anywhere in the world, but in Japan they have a concept of life that precisely helps that there are places where they approach the zero residue, with cities like Yokohama with a strict system, in which not even recycling or doing it badly entails fine.
The concept that helps Japan towards the objective of zero residue is the ‘Mottainai’, a term that can be translated into Spanish as “feeling weighing the inappropriate use of an object or an resource” or “repentance to waste”. This word would have its origin already in the seventeenth century in the ancient city of Tokyo, but it would be After World War II When it would develop at a higher level, also coinciding with a moment of product shortage.
Thus, the recycling in Japan based on the ‘Mottainai’ is based on 4R: reduce, reuse, recycle and respectand it has three basic rules that are carrying the garbage before eight in the morning to the deposit, paying attention to the days established for it and detach from the waste in semitransparent bags. This is what unites the different locations, with each with a specific method and norms on recycling.
Kamikatsu, the people of Japan reference in recycling
The ‘Mottainai’ reaches its maximum expression in a small town in Japan, specifically in Kamikatsuof just over 1,300 inhabitants and located in the mountains of the island of Shikokuand that thanks to its recycling system has become a worldwide reference.
Since 2002, the residents of Kamikatsu They follow a recycling method with 45 classifications of garbage types and has been taught through courses. This system is based on using the products and giving them a new life: in the case of organic ones they create compost for gardens and orchards, plastics and containers dry after washing and cardboard is disassembled to take to an established point.
One of the most striking facts of the recycling method is the existence of A barter market in which neighbors exchange materials and products that do not use for others, and different materials are also used to create crafts or works of art to later sell it.
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