Selection of New Eco-community Projects to Establish a Sound Material-Cycle Society

The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) annually invites project proposals aimed at establishing a sound material-cycle society and selects excellent proposals to implement them as Eco-community Projects. In FY 2006, the MOE received 81 applications and selected 7 projects.

1. Background and objective
A sound material-cycle society is a society where consumption of natural resources is reduced by securing the cycle of material and reversing the pattern of mass production, mass consumption, and mass disposal. With the aim of realizing this society, the Fundamental Law for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society was promulgated in June, 2000 and based on this law, the Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society was approved in March, 2003.

The purpose of the fundamental plan is to promote the comprehensive and systematic implementation of measures as a ten year framework of programs to change the unsustainable consumption and production pattern. The plan calls for specific goals and images of a sound material-cycle society and the cooperation of citizens, NGOs, NPOs, businesses, and local governments toward these goals and images.

In view of the plan, the MOE invites unique and original project ideas from the public to practice, for example, "reduce, reuse, recycle" and green purchasing. The MOE helps implement excellent ideas as demonstration models, thus promoting locally based initiatives. The MOE started this Eco-community Project system in FY 2003.
This year, the MOE received 81 applications from January 27 to March 17, and 7 projects were selected by academic experts.

2. 2006 application and selection
Number of entries: 81 projects
Selected projects: 7 projects
Application period: January 27 to March 17, 2006

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