Welcome back to Japan Visualizer

This week I’ve gathered data about the waste disposal in Japan. Specifically, the overall recycling rates and plastic recycling rates compared to other countries, as well as how waste is disposed of.

Total Recycling Rate in Japan

If you’re familiar with Japan then you’ve likely heard about their robust trash sorting system. It’s even reported that some municipalities sort their trash into over 30 different categories. So with such a thorough system, they must have an amazing recycling rate, right? Nope. Japan’s recycling rate has been right around 20% for the last 10 years. That would make for a pretty boring chart. For comparison the United States recycling rate is estimated at 32% and the average rate in Europe is nearly 50%.

What About Plastic Recycling?

Japan has managed to reach an impressive recycling rate (utilization rate in the chart above) of 87 percent when it comes to plastic, or has it? The catch is that Japan considers energy recovery while incinerating to be recycling, so while that 87 percent looks impressive, it’s not as nice as it seems. Energy Recovery still releases chemicals into the air, it is better than regular incineration or landfills, but not as clean as reusing or repurposing the plastic. If we remove Energy Recovery as recycling, then the recycle rate falls to around 38 percent.

How All Of Japan’s Trash Is Disposed Of

Most of Japan’s trash is incinerated (this includes energy recovery and regular incineration). This is because Japan has limited space to bury the trash so that’s the best way to remove it. Fun fact: Japan has less than 20 years of landfill space left at their current burying rates. The other section includes methods such as land reclaiming (making land out of garbage), illegal dumping, or exports. Another fun fact: 0.5% of Japan’s land is reclaimed land.

All data has been obtained from the Ministry of Environment (MoE) or the Plastic Waste Management Institution (PWMI)

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