OECD's Environmental Performance Reviews: Japan

  • Evaluation
    • The 2000 Basic Law for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society has integrated the environmentally sound management of waste with the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) approach. Quantitative targets for resource efficiency, recycling, and final disposal of waste have been achieved and strengthened.
    • Overall resource productivity of the Japanese economy increased by 37% between 2000 and 2007, mainly due to declining inputs of construction materials. Inputs of imported resources (fossil fuels, metals) continue to grow and the environmental impacts related to these trade flows have not yet been assessed.
    • About 60% of municipalities are charging for waste collection, but cost recovery for waste services is still low (about 13% nationwide). The Eco-Town programme has created synergies between industrial and urban areas to maximise resource use, recycling and local development. Final disposal amounts of non-municipal and municipal waste have been reduced by 55% and 40% respectively. However, waste generation from manufacturing industry has increased faster than GDP.
    • Overall, the 3Rs policy has focused on recycling and reducing final disposal, mainly to respond to landfill shortage. Further efforts are needed in waste prevention (reduction and reuse).
    • The principle of extended producer responsibility (already applied to containers and packaging, electric and electronic equipment, construction materials, and food) has been broadened to include end-of-life vehicles.
    • The current situation, where final owners are charged for returning their end-of-life electric and electronic products, continues to encourage illegal dumping, unregulated collection activities and uncontrolled exports of secondary, potentially hazardous, materials.
    • Japan has played a leading role in improving information on material flows at the international level and is promoting the 3Rs in Asia. However, increases in the recyclables trade and price variations are undermining the effectiveness of the Japanese domestic recycling system. There are concerns that hazardous waste is being exported under the cover of trade in non-hazardous recyclable materials. This underlines the importance of coordinating waste management policies within the Asian region.
  • Recommendations
    It is recommended to:
    • continue to promote the 3Rs strategy at national and local levels and implement the Fundamental Plan for establishing a sound material-cycle society: include targets on resource productivity by sector; continue to support analysis of resource productivity by sector and material flows, including better assessment of trade-related flows and their associated environmental impacts;
    • continue to promote the 3Rs strategy internationally, as well as international efforts to control illegal shipments of hazardous waste; promote the coordination of waste management and 3Rs policies in Asia;
    • strengthen the extended producer responsibility system in order to reduce waste generation and illegal dumping of waste, for instance by promoting environment friendly design and ecolabelling, further internalising recovery costs into product prices (e.g. by a recovery fee included in the purchase price), and abolishing charges to consumers for disposal of electric and electronic products;
    • implement measures that promote synergies between recycling, landfill diversion and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. develop incineration capacity with energy recovery, improve separate collection of bio-waste);
    • increase recycling and materials and energy recovery to substitute primary resources for production and fossil fuels for energy supply;
    • promote waste prevention and greater cost recovery in municipal waste services by expanding the use of waste charging schemes.