Katsumi Sakai

Director of Waste Reduction, Comprehensive Planning Office, Bureau of Public Cleansing, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
(8-1, Nishishinjuku 2-cyome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-01, Japan)

Abstract

While our regional waste problem has become more serious than before both in quality and quantity, we are required also to deal properly with it from a view point of global environmental protection. Corresponding to this requirement, the National Government legislated and revised related laws and regulations. In order to deal with these legislative changes and to cope with a waste problem which is growing more serious, Tokyo Metropolitan Government has also totally revised its old Public Cleansing Ordinance, to remodel the Ordinance for Waste Disposal and Recycling which contains T.M.G.'s original regulations. The basic notion of the new ordinance is to change T.M.G.'s administrative stance from the conventional passive attitude of just disposing given waste to a positive one in which we 'control wastes totally'. The new ordinance requires all parties concerned to try to reduce wastes by enhancing reuse and recycling at all stages, ranging from production and distribution to consumption and disposal, as well as to dispose of waste even more appropriately. Making respective responsibilities of the administration, manufacturers and citizens concretely clear, this Ordinance prescribes regulations in line with the realities of the waste problem in Tokyo.

Key words: waste, recycle, reduction, proper disposal, prior assessment