Satoshi Nohara

Deputy Director, Ministory of International Trade and Industry Recycling Promotion Division
Environmental Protection and Industrial Location Bureau
(1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100 Japan)

Abstract

The Law for the Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging was enacted in June 1995. Since then, recycling activity has met with a new situation. Astheobjectofthispaper,Iwouldliketointroducetheoutlineofthislawwhichestab-lishes a real base for the rules of recycling in Japan and summarizes future tasks for legislation on the promotion of recycling activities. There are some characteristics of this law which give guidance to the sorted collection that is already existing and promote the recycling of containers and packaging. I would like to emphasize what future tasks are needed to promote recycling activities in the future, in my personal view: 1) A technological innovation which considers recycling and environmental conservation is necessary. 2) AmarkforrecyclingactivitywithcostanalysisandLCA (LifeCycleAssessment) analy-sis must be set.

Key words: Law for the Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging, legislation on recycling, technological innovation, cost analysis, LCA