48 社学研論集　Vol.

25　2015年３月

論　文

A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste

Management in India and Japan

Mahajan Niyati ＊

１．Introduction
Development activities across the globe leads to environmental burdens and the generation of waste is one
among them. World cities generate about 1.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste per year, which is expected to reach
2.2 billion tonnes by 2025（World Bank“Global Review”2012: 8）. The situation is more severe in lower income
countries where waste generation rates would be more than double over the next twenty years（vii）. The Municipal
Solid Waste（MSW）generation trend, questions one’
s readiness to pay the cost of rapid urbanization and
industrialization. The improper management and disposal of waste causes emission of Green House Gases such
as Methane, affects public health and results in severe land, water and air pollution. It is difficult to achieve
absolute avoidance of pollution or risk to human beings, but it can be minimized by using cost effective technical
and policy measures which would yield the greatest return to the society. Developed countries like Japan use
incineration to reduce the overall quantity of waste disposed. In addition, it has introduced measures to increase
the rate of solid waste recycling. Recycling has three main effects: resource recovery, reduced amount of waste
disposal to landfills or incinerators, and reduced use of illegal dumpsites. To overcome the waste problem,
developing countries like India are trying to make a shift towards the technologies and other methods adopted
for waste management that are popular in developed countries. But before making such shifts it is necessary to
understand the potential and risk involved in the process.
The paper makes a comparative study of solid waste management（SWM）practices and regulations in
India and Japan. The developing countries like India have a scope to learn from the experience of Japan, but need
to pragmatically assess the expectations of SWM systems. India need to use appropriate available technologies of
waste disposal, increase its focus on recycling and involve the informal sector in waste management to improve
the waste situation. The paper is divided into four sections. Section I gives a brief account of waste management
regulations in India and Japan. Section II focuses on the waste quantity and composition. In Section III current
waste management practices in both the countries have been examined. Section IV analyzes recycling as an

＊早稲田大学大学院社会科学研究科　博士後期課程３年（指導教員　黒川哲志）
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 49

option for the effective and efficient waste management and resource recovery.

２．Regulatory Framework
The section gives a brief outline of the regulatory framework on waste management in India and Japan.
In India the regulations are more command and control types and have not been proven very successful in
improving the waste situation. However, the waste management regulations in Japan are harmonious and have
worked well due to community participation. In the British India creation of‘waste, dirt, filth and garbage’
in the neighborhood was considered as public nuisance and it was a punishable offense under Indian Penal
Code（IPC）, 1898（Klein 2008: 83）. Yet the concern for environmental sanitation remained only on paper and
hardly served any purpose. Post Independence, Indian Policy makers passed laws to reduce waste and pollution.
Many rules have been notified for safe waste management under Environment Protection Act（EPA）, like The
Hazardous Waste and Chemical Rules（1989）, The Biomedical Waste Rules（1998）, The Recycled Plastic
Manufacture and Use Rules（1999）, The Municipal Solid Waste（Management and Handling）Rules（2000）,
The Batteries Rules（2001）, Electronic waste Rules（2011）. However, the regulatory framework have not been
successfully implemented. For example, the Municipal Solid Waste Rules mandate segregation and storage of
waste at source, door to door collection, abolition of open storage, transportation of waste in covered vehicles,
waste processing by composting or energy recovery, disposal of inerts by sanitary landfilling and rehabilitation
of the existing dump sites. But, a 2014 report of the Planning Commission of India states that in 128 cities
except for street sweeping and transportation, compliance was less than 50 percent and in respect of disposal
compliance was a dismal 1.4 percent（7）. Further, only 22 States or Urban Territories have set up processing and
disposal facilities and the rest of the States or Urban Territories have made no effort till 2013（4）. Some of the
reasons for the noncompliance of rules include: lack of public awareness, motivation, education; noncooperation
from households; non availability of primary collection vehicles and equipment for segregated collection of
wastes; paucity of financial resources as well as lack of priority to waste management; lack of technical know-
how and skilled manpower for treatment and disposal of waste and non-availability of appropriate land to set up
waste processing and disposal facilities（Joseph 2012: 76）.
In Japan, there is a high percentage consumption of the world resources, but at the same time it plays
an active role in the preservation of resources through its different policy measures. In the 1960s, Japan was
considered one of the most polluted countries in the world after the outbreak of Kogai but in subsequent years,
it adopted adequate policy measures and made relevant technological changes to become an environmentally
friendly country（Schreurs 1997: 150）. In Japan the waste materials such as refuse, dust, and night-soil, had
been long called the“filth”until the Waste Disposal & Public Cleansing Law was enacted in the year 1970
（Gotoh 1987: 15）. Under the law, waste is classified as industrial waste or municipal waste. The law with its
subsequent amendments set out the main statutory control of waste management. Mass production and mass
 50

consumption in society, as well as disposal of resulting waste caused depletion of natural resources and high
pollution levels. Hence, in 1990s Japan passed many new laws to promote recycling. In 1991, Law for Promotion
of Effective Utilization of Resources was adopted to promote recycling at the production, distribution, and
consumption stages, effective use of resources, decrease waste generation, and for environmental conservation.
The law contains guidelines and targets for recycling of both municipal and industrial solid waste, for example,
the target utilization rate of waste paper for the paper and paperboard industry was established for 1995 at
55 percent（Carbonnier 1996: 4）. Further, Container Packaging and Recycling Law for the promotion of
separate collection and recycling of packaging waste came into force in 1997. The law was designed to effect
a shift to a recycling-based society in the 21st century（Tanaka 1999 14）. The law ensures that consumers,
municipalities, and producers share the responsibility of recycling. Encouraged by the Packaging Waste
Recycling Law, producers can both decrease waste and lighten their own economic burden by cutting down
on their containers and other packaging. The recycling rates of items like paper, cans, and bottles have been
rising since the revision of the Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law in 1970 and the enactment of the
Promotion of Use of Recyclable Waste Law in 1991. In 2000, a more comprehensive Basic Act for Establishing
A Sound Material-Cycle Society was established with an approach to environmental protection and to combat
the high consumption patterns. This has led to various legislative initiatives to promote the recycling of electrical
home appliances, construction material, food waste and so forth. One of the most important components of
laws related to sound material cycle society is the incorporation of Extended Producer Responsibility（EPR）,
which shifts the responsibility of processing general household waste from local governments to producer of
products. For example, Under the Home Appliance Recycle Law, 2001, makers of products have a responsibility
to take back and recycle four home appliances-waste fridges, washing machines, televisions and air conditioners.
Thereby enabling system for recovery and recycling of iron, copper, aluminum and glass from these products.
Retailers are obligated to take them back from consumers and deliver them to the appropriate producers or
recycling agents and the consumers has obligation to pay for waste processing. The price of recycling is reflected
in recycling processing cost of the products, thus it gives incentives for producer to reduce the cost of recycle
processing and increase the competitiveness by increasing recyclability of products（Madu and Kuei 2012: 211）.
The shifting of responsibility from local authorities to producer ensures waste minimization and the recyclability
of the products. Although it may appear to be a command and control type of regulation, however, it is more
focused on giving incentives for voluntary actions and technological innovations to increase eco-efficiency. The
rigorous regulation, adoption of technically oriented recycling measures and generally encouraging participation
from public and private sectors, the recycling eventually becomes more of a habit rather than an approach
regulated by authorities.
One of the most striking similarity between Japanese and Indian Laws is the incorporation of elements like
EPR. For example, In India, E-Waste Management and Handling Rules, 2011 mandates producers of electrical
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 51

and electronic equipment to set up collection center or take back system in order to ensure proper recycling
and disposal of their products. However, the rules have proven totally ineffective. It is common to see e-waste
dismantler flout pollution and safety norms, risking both environment and health（Nandi 2014）. In many
cases, it is even difficult to locate producers as many micro and small enterprises are selling assembled products.
The implementation of the rules is still a challenge with entrenched informal sector competing with formal
recyclers, poor infrastructure, lack of administrative will and low public awareness. In Indian legislation, the
‘Reutelization’approach has been very poorly developed and there is no concrete target set for recycling. The
reuse or recycling practices mainly exist within the informal sector and done more for economic reasons. There
is not much incentive left for municipalities to recycle the leftover waste, as most valuable recyclable materials
are already removed through private waste trading and informal recycling sector. There is need to develop more
concrete recycling laws in India as have been developed in Japan, while also taking steps for the formalization of
the informal sector.

３．Waste Quantity and Composition

The section discusses how waste quantity and composition differs with the economic status of a country.
The variation in quantity and composition brings into question the relevance and potential success of waste
management strategies that work in developed countries like Japan to developing countries like India. The data
can be crucial for designing the suitable disposal techniques and is essential for a successful management plan.
The characteristic of waste changes over a period of time in term of quantity and quality, due to changes in the
availability of products, technologies and services in the market. It also depends upon people’
s income, culture,
geography and the socioeconomic condition of any society. According to Census of India, the population of
the country increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011. It rose to over 1.21 billion in
2011. It accounts for 17.5 percent of the world population and its 377 million people live in the urban areas
of the country. The MSW generation is increasing with the growing population and economic development.

Figure 1: Projected Municipal Waste Generation for Urban Population in India

1100. 1032
848
825. 696
571 517 586
550. 391 471 402 456
327 315 355
281 220.7
275. 115.8 160.1
33.7 45 61 83.8
0.
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030
Urban Population(Millions)
MSW Generation Rate gm/capita/day
Total MSW generation (million tons)

Source: Rajendra K. Kaushal et. al., Municipal Solid Waste Management in

India-Current State and Future Challenges: A Review., 2012
 52

The quantity of average MSW production ranges from 0.21 to 0.50 Kg per capita per day depending on the
population of the cities（De 2003: 85）. However, the MSW quantity is expected to increase from 34 million
tonnes in 2000 to 221 million tonnes in 2030（Fig 1）. It also means that per capita per day production will
increase to 1.032 kg, and urban population as 586 million in 2030. Municipal corporations of the country so
far are not able to handle the increasing quantity of waste, which leads to uncollected waste on roads and other
public places.
In comparison to India, the population of Japan has remained almost constant in the past few years with
126.9 million in 2000 to 128 million in 2010. Japan is a mountainous and highly volcanic country with only 10
percent land suitable for residential purpose（Williams 2005: 54）. The shortage of land limits the availability of
suitable landfill sites and is a driving force behind waste management policy. It has taken a number of measures
to reduce the per capita waste generation or to make it constant. The policies are based on the 3R approach of
waste reduction, reuse and recycling to minimize the waste that ultimately destined for landfill and the main
route for waste disposal is incineration. According to Statistics Bureau of Japan, the quantity of average MSW
production declined from 1.18 kg in 2000 to 0.97 Kg per capita per day in 2010. It generated around 52 million
tonnes of MSW in 2000, 77.4 percent of which was incinerated, 5.9 percent landfilled and 16.7 percent recycled.
In 2010 the MSW quantity reduced to 43 million tonnes out of which 79 percent incinerated, 1.5 percent
landfilled and 19.4 percent recycled. According to Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan, the daily per
capita waste was 1.18 kg in 2000 which decreased to 1.08 Kg in 2007, reduced by 8.1 percent from 2000（Figure
2）.

Figure 2: Changes in Waste Reduction in Japan

1200 1185 1180

1166 1163
(grams per capita

1146 1151
1150 1131
Garbage

per day)

1089
1100

1050 1033

1000

950
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2015
Years

Source: Ministry of Environment, Govt. of Japan, Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle

Society, 2010

By comparing data of India and Japan for the year 2010, it is clear that the per capita waste generation rate
for India（0.47kg）is lower than that of Japan（0.97 kg）but due to the high level of population the total MSW
amount is higher in India（61 million tonnes）than in Japan（43 million tonnes）. It reflects, although the high-
income countries are also affected by high quantity of waste generated, but for developing economies, it could
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 53

become a problem of very large proportions. There is an urgent need for low income countries to control the
MSW problem with the right waste management strategy. The approaches for SWM should be compatible
with the nature of a given society for its success. The waste compositions vary from country to country, making
them difficult to adopt waste management strategies which may be successful in other places. Table 1 shows the
difference in Gross Domestic Product（GDP）, waste generation rates and composition in India and Japan.

Table 1: Waste generation rates and composition for India and Japan

GDP Composition（percent wet weight basis）

（PPP） Waste
per capita Generation
Country Textile/ Inert and
estimated （kg/capita/ Biodegradable Paper Plastic Glass Metal
leather Other
for 2007 day）
（USD）
Japan 33,010 1.1 26 46 9 7 8 － 12
India 3,794 0.3-0.6 42 6 4 2 2 4 40

Source: Derived from Ashok V. Shekdar, Sustainable Solid Waste Management: An Integrated Approach for Asian
Countries, 2008

The most notable difference in waste from two countries lies in the high proportion of recyclables like
paper, metal and plastics in Japan, while greater portions of degradable organic matter and unidentifiable
material such as dust and ashes in India. The reason for such fraction is due to the fact that wealthy communities
form‘throw away societies’whereas poor communities have less to throw away and are more ingenious in
reusing, recycling and refurbishing articles that a wealthier community would discard（Hope 1998: 12）. There
is high spending of rich countries like Japan on packaging material, absence of rag picking and low number of
scrap dealers. The waste papers and old newspapers are generally put into the trash instead of storing at a point
of generation for selling to scrap dealers. On the other hand, the developing countries like India use newspaper
and other unsoiled paper for packaging including food items. The paper and other recyclable stuff are carried
by the informal sector, which consists of scrap dealers, merchant and rag pickers. The number of old scrap
merchants in India is high and house and offices sell old paper to these dealers. These dealers in turn sell them
to recyclers and other end users. The huge number of rag picker picks all recyclable fractions of waste from
residential and waste dump areas. The presence of the informal sector（consisting of scrap dealers, merchants
and waste pickers）is one of the main reasons for very low amounts of paper, plastic, glass and metals in the
Indian waste stream.

４．Municipal Solid Waste Management Practices

The section discusses current waste management practices in both the countries in order to explore their
effectiveness and shortcomings. The waste management system in India suffers from a number of deficiencies.
 54

For example, there is no organized and scientifically planned source segregation of MSW. Citizen prefers
conventional mixed waste disposal over segregated waste as it requires less resources, say in terms of time
（Mukherjee 2012: 180）. The sorting of waste is practiced by informal sector rather than generators. The
efficiency of segregation is quite low as the informal sector tends to segregate only those waste materials which
have a relatively higher economic return in the recycling market. Similar to segregation, the collection systems
are also inefficient and municipal authorities do not provide the service for door to door collection of waste, even
though such service is mandated in the rules（Zhu 2008: 19）. However, in some places, door to door collection
is provided by NGOs and private operators.（1）The municipality collects waste only from communal bins or
street collection points. It is common to see overflowing bins or littered waste around the community bins.
Most often stray animal feeds on the waste dumped in these places. Another route for litter collection is street
sweeping in which 60-70 percent expenditure of municipal budget is spent（Chandrappa and Das 2012: 71）. In
contrast, Japan controls the generation of waste at source by households, where the waste originates. The concept
of shared responsibility has been effectively used. Citizens are supposed to separate the waste into combustibles,
non-combustibles and recyclables（can, glass bottles, PET bottles each sorted separately）. They should deposit
the waste in specified transparent bags, at the locations specified by the municipalities on a particular day of
the week by a specific time. Both municipalities and waste disposal agents sort out useful components of the
collected waste and put them into a recycling route. To encourage voluntary recycling activities, municipality
plays an active role through its various programmes. For example, in 1989, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
（TMG）clarified the critical situation of waste disposal and started the“Tokyo Slim”campaign. TMG
introduced a variety of measures and programmes like“My Bag campaign”to reduce packaging”and“Tokyo
Rules”for the collection and recycling of waste.“Tokyo Slim”was a difficult policy change, but by the year
2000, with detailed and well inspected plans built for each ward, the city developed as a role model for resource
recovery out of waste material. Since the start of the campaign, within 10 years, there has been an increase of
the annual amount of recycling in 23 wards of Tokyo from 300,000 tons to about 1 million tons（Sorensen and
Okata 2010: 35）.
The generated waste is collected by collection vehicles to the transfer stations and the disposal facility. In
India various types of transport vehicles exist, ranging from mostly used general purpose vehicles like trucks to
highly mechanized compactors in some cities. Generally, the waste transportation fleet is obsolete and poorly
maintained. Most of the municipalities are ill equipped and 70 percent of cities lack adequate waste transport
capacities（Unnisa and Rao 2013: 48）. Further, there are corrupt practices adopted like under utilization of
municipal transport fleet and contracting out to private companies.（2）In Japan, there exist standardized designs
for the vehicles, consistent with normal waste characteristics and working conditions. The compactor container
transfer station method is used in which waste is dropped in the hopper, compressed in containers and reloaded
to larger container trucks for disposal or landfill sites（Ministry of Environment“Recycling”2012: 3）. There
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 55

are difficulties associated with copying the designs of highly mechanized vehicles used in the developed-world
in developing nations due to differences in local waste characteristics and operating conditions. However,
appropriate designs are being developed through innovative approaches, extensive testing, and trial and error.
Solid wastes that cannot otherwise be processed, residues and other materials that are discarded after
processing are ultimately disposed of by methods like sanitary landfilling or incineration. 75 percent of MSW
generated in Japan is being treated by incineration, while 5 percent of MSW wastes treated by incineration
in India（Malik 2012: 513）. In 1990s the burring of waste in incinerators raised dioxins to dangerously high
levels in Japan, but technological advances have since corrected the problem. In Japan, now the plasma arc
technology（PAT）is used for incineration. It helps in more than 95 percent volume reduction of thrash
（“Talking Thrash”2012）. PAT works at a very high temperature and can decompose more than 99.99 percent
of the organic components. In the process, the dioxin formation is prevented and the clean gases are released
into the atmosphere. PAT is a capital intensive technology. Klein estimates that the initial cost of plasma waste
processing plant ranges between US $ 3 million to $ 12 million depending on size, complexity of treatment
process and nature of waste（2008: 31）. The general cost of waste treatment by plasma arc varies from US $ 400
to $ 2,000 per ton. There are 1873 incinerator in Japan and 13 alone are located in Tokyo（Azapagic 2004: 155）.
Japan has combined incinerators with energy recovery plants to achieve the dual objective of waste disposal and
energy generation. For example, some Japanese cities have integrated their MSW incinerators in community
complexes with indoor gardens, meeting halls, second hand shops and offices of NGOs. Tokyo’
s Toshima
incinerator burns 300 tonnes of garbage per day, turning it into electricity, hot water and recyclable sand（Harden
2008）. Incinerator ash is melted into sandy slag and is used in bricks and concrete. Though the incineration
is widely used in developed countries, however in India, it is not considered as a feasible option for municipal
solid waste. Incineration is a difficult option for developing countries due to lack of financial and technological
resources, the high moisture content of the wastes, low quantity of combustible material as well as the high cost
of processing and difficulties in maintaining the required operating conditions. In Delhi first incineration plant
was set up at Timarpur in 1989 by a foreign company of Denmark, but due to low calorific value it could not
function properly and now is defunct（Anand 2010: 268）. The government planned to revive it, but faced huge
opposition from environmental NGOs concerning harmful emission from the plant. In India there are only few
Waste to energy（WTE）projects operating in the state of Hyderabad and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and
processing around 1,000 TDP of mixed waste（TERI 2009: 434）. According to latest reports even these plants
are now dysfunctional（Saldanha 2014）. In 2013 the Ministry of Environment and Forest had withdrawn the
controversial amendments to MSW Rules, 2000. The amendments had encouraged the use of incineration for
MSW disposal（Suchitra 2013）.
In India, more than 90 percent of MSW in cities and towns are directly disposed of on land in an
unsatisfactory manner through open dumping（Sharholy 2008: 463）. It not only affect the environment and
 56

public health, but also results in scarcity of land. For example, in Delhi three main landfill sites in operation,
located at Bhalswa, Gazipur and Okhla are already running at an overflowing stage. Since 1975, already
16 landfill sites have been filled up with garbage of Delhi. There are some municipalities which have used
innovative methods like composting for waste treatment. At present, in India composting is used only around
10-12 percent（Kaushal 2012: 1482）. The first large-scale aerobic composting plant in the country was set up in
Mumbai in 1992 to handle 500 MT per day of MSW by Excel Industries Ltd（Sharholy 2008: 464）. However,
only 300 MT per day capacity is being utilized currently due to certain problems, but the plant is working very
successfully and the compost produced is being sold at the rate of Rs. 2（US $ 0.03）per kg. Over the years a
number of other composting plants have been implemented in the principal cities of the country such as Delhi,
Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Lucknow and Gwalior. Yet such cheaper and environmental
friendly techniques are not continuously supported by the municipality. In one of the biggest scam related to
waste management, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation（BMC）has rejected a windrow composting based
（3）
project, which required an investment of Rs 68.5 million（US $ 1.1 million）
（Marpakwar 2009）. Instead the
municipality opted for liner system and given the contract to United Phosphorus limited for a value of Rs 503
million（US $ 8.1 million）for closing Gorai dumpsite（Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai“Gorai”）.
On the same lines, BMC agreed to contract for closure of other dumping ground Deonar at a highly exaggerated
cost of Rs 35 billion（US $ 0.5 billion）, when it could have happened for almost free.（4）Environmental activists
claim that for municipalities like BMC, waste management is purely a money making avenue rather than a civic,
environmental or health issue. Citizen across the city launched a protest movement against the high closing costs
of dumping ground and filed a Public Interest Litigation（PIL）for cancellation of project to stop the drainage
of public money.
There are some initiatives carried out for composting, recycling and efficient disposal of waste at small scale
institutions or in the society. For example, the Baba Atomic Research Center（BARC）installed biogas plant
called Nisarguna for environmental friendly disposal of the waste generated in the kitchens of various canteens.
By 2014, these plants have been set up at 146 locations and technology is transferred to 100 entrepreneurs.（5）
Bangalore Corporation is planning to set up 12 Nisargruna biogas plants across the city to convert biodegradable
waste into methane and organic manure. The Chennai Corporation and BMC have also initiated preliminary
discussion with BARC. However, in the Indian scenario success of these processes is difficult because the waste
arrives in a mixed form and contains a lot of non-organic material. When mixed waste is composted, the end
product is of poor quality. In the absence of segregation, even the best waste management system or plant will be
rendered useless.
In Japan organic waste recycling is done through the Food Recycling Law. It was amended in 2007
to promote a recycling loop that requires food industries to purchase farm products that are grown using
food waste-derived compost or animal feed. In some cities like Kyoto and Hita biomass technology is used
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 57

for producing biodiesel fuel. Composting has limited potential, but some home based composting is done
through technologies like Bokashi and Takakura method. Table 2 summarizes the main features of Solid Waste
Management Practices in India and Japan, including Source Reduction, Collection, Recycling, Composting,
Incineration and Landfilling.

Table 2: The main features of Solid Waste Management Practices in India and Japan

Activity/
India Japan
Country
Source Some discussion of source reduction, but rarely Organized education programme and rules that
Reduction incorporated into an organized programme. emphasize the‘3R’and producer responsibility.
Collection rate greater than 90 percent. Compactor
Transport fleet is obsolete. Collection rate varies
Collection trucks and highly mechanized vehicles and transfer
between 50 to 80 percent.
stations are common.
Recyclable material collection ser vices and
Informal sector involved in recycling markets,which
Recycling processing facilities are technically advanced and
are not well regulated.
regulated.
Large composting plants are not common due to Waste stream has a smaller portion of compostable
Composting
contamination and lack of proper marketing. waste. Some initiatives taken.
Incineration Mostly failed. Very Common.
Landfilling Uncontrolled open dumps. Limited landfill sites.
　Source: Derived from World Bank, What a Waste: Global Review of Solid Waste Management, 2012

５．The Way Forward: 3R（Reduce, Reuse, Recycle）Initiatives

The section focuses on recycling practices in both countries and suggests that while formal recycling is
common and successful in Japan, the informal sector is much more prevalent in India. Japan has played a leading
role in promoting the 3R in Asia. The time-lined and goal-driven national and regional programmes have been
launched in keeping with waste trend. The Eco Town Programme launched in 1997, to reduce resource use by
optimizing waste management within designated areas is a successful example of 3R initiative at regional level.
An Eco town plan is a combination of town planning, community recycling, outreach activities and proposal
for specific innovative recycling plants. In a span of 10 years from 1997 to 2006, 26 Eco-Town plans were
implemented with an investment of US$ 1.65 billion, with 61 government subsidized innovative recycling
projects（Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development“Performance”2010: 158）. Kitakyushu
is one of the Eco town that circulates resource circulation and Eco industries. It consist of 29 industrial plants,
16 research facilities and a WTE plant. The recyclable includes PET bottles, automobiles and electronic home
appliances, mixed construction waste, fluorescent tubes and office equipment. All non recyclable residue is
processed at WTE plant, which generates 99,870 MWh electricity, meeting all Eco town’
s electricity demand
and reduces 380,000 tonnes of CO2 per year（Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
 58

“Green”2013: 41）. In a city level 3R effort the Yokohama G30 plan was launched in 2003. It was targeted
to reduce the waste to 30 percent by 2010 compared with 2001 by increasing the separation and recycling of
MSW（Harris and Lang 2014: 185）. The category of waste increased from 5 to 10 and in order to encourage
citizens to separate their waste at home, around 12,000 meetings held to explain waste separation and 8,300
early morning events were organized to explain about collection centers. The improperly separated waste was
left behind with a warning sticker and a non penal fine of US $ 25 was imposed if someone repeatedly failed to
separate the waste properly. As a result, the MSW reduced by 42 percent compared with 2001, two incinerator
plants were closed permanently and one temporarily, and the city made a cost saving of US $ 6 million on waste
management. In another effort, TMG introduced schemes like Shinjuku Eco Jiman Point（An Eco point card）
to control waste generation with the cooperation of household, business and shopping districts（Bortoleto 2014:
45）. The consumers could accumulate points for every time they decline a shopping bag or undertakes a waste
prevention action while shopping. They could exchange these points for privilege or prizes offered by stores.
Overall, the 3R policy has been successful, however, further efforts are needed for waste prevention（reduction
and reuse）.
Indian policy makers have not shown much interest in the promotion of 3R philosophy, recycling industries
or formally educate the society（Klein 2008: 80）. The improper law enforcement, corruption, high population
and immigration of people from rural to urban areas have resulted in the creation of inner-city slums and
inefficient system of waste collection. In such situation poor and marginalized people choose waste picking for
income. The ragpickers in India are often Dalits or untouchables and are essentially lowest in the caste system
（Bose 2014; Nas and Jaffe 2004: 345）. They are comparable to‘Burakumin’in ancient Japan（Tierney 2002:
43）. The discrimination on the basis of caste is illegal today, but century old tradition still pervades in the
Indian society（Medina 2007: 201）. Ragpickers live in both developed as well as developing countries, but their
number can vary significantly. In Japan waste pickers appeared mainly during the war period. However, now
their number is limited to a few homeless people, for example, 5,000 in Tokyo, 1,000 in Kawasaki and 14,000 in
Osaka hub（Karan 2005: 199）. In India, the number of rag pickers is very high as much as 1.5 million. Gujarat
state has around 100,000 rag pickers, Delhi has nearly 100,000 waste pickers, Pune has around 6,000 of them,
Bangalore has an estimated 35,000 and Mumbai has 25,000 waste pickers（Chandrappa and Das 2012: 378）.
Informal methods and techniques in waste management are generally labor intensive; while formal
methods tend to be labor saving, but capital-intensive. Developing countries often have a surplus of cheap
labor, but are short of capital; integration of this labor force in formal set up can be a step towards more cost-
effective and sustainable waste management. There are successful examples of harnessing waste recycling
potential of the country with the help of the informal sector. The International Labor Organization（ILO）
supported programme in Delhi, whereby more than 10,000 shoes are put back into use each month rather than
going to the garbage dump（Rogerson 2001: 251）. Old shoes and clothing are obtained by women going to
 A Comparative Study of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India and Japan 59

the better off areas in Delhi and bartering steel utensils and crockery items. These shoes and clothes are sold
at the local market to shoe renovators who resole and make the old shoes look new and re-dye light colored
shoes. Beside shoe renovation, there are also sets of businesses based on paper bag manufacture, toy making
and the selling of old clothes, all of which linked to recovery and recycling. In another example, Self Employed
Woman’
s Association（SEWA）has been working for women who traditionally picked paper from streets in
Ahemdabad, assisted these women to be more organized（Rowbotham 1994: 114）. Further, there are some
ragpicker cooperatives, associations and NGOs that have channelized the unorganized sector of rag pickers into
the formal SWM system. However, these initiatives are very limited and majority of waste collector still suffer
‘invisible’status as they are not seen as legitimate stakeholders in the society.

６．Conclusion
In developing economies like India the urbanization and changing lifestyles have been the major reasons
for the growing waste menace. It has been observed that in spite of a stringent legislation in place, open
dumping is the most widespread form of waste disposal. The present policy framework does not give a direction
and thrust to environmentally sound waste management. It is necessary to broaden the scope of these laws.
The framework should facilitate the planning and operation of the system by including relevant technical and
other information. On the other hand, Japan with its well planned and organized SWM system, has achieved
the goal of sustainability. In line with global trends, the innovating and integrated systems are used to resolve
sustainability issues; mainly through legislative measures and the incorporation of 3R（reduce, reuse and recycle）
policy. The waste management system in Japan is difficult to work out well in India, due to difference in waste
composition of the two countries and presence of widespread informal recycling sector in India. Incorporating
technologies like incineration（used commonly in Japan）, is relatively expensive and not suitable for weaker
economies such as India. India needs to use available human resources in the informal sectors to increase the
recycling rates, make technological innovations and require time to time advancement in the regulatory system
for achieving a sound waste management society.
〔投稿受理日2014. 12. 20／掲載決定日2015. 1. 29〕

Note
⑴　Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Rajkot, Bangalore, Jaipur, and Chennai are some of the cities where door-to-door collection
services are carried out through RWA, NGO, and other private initiatives. In Ahmedabad, a door-to-door collection
initiative involving RWAs and NGOs met with success and the new service covers more than 855,000 households, or
95 percent of households in the city. Under the memoranda of understanding signed with the RWAs and NGOs, the
municipality provided subsidies of Rs 10 per household per month（Zhu 2008: 29）.
⑵　According to Controller and Auditor General of India（CAG）report, despite the huge fleet and surplus trucks, New
Delhi Municipal Council hired private vehicles during 1997 to 2000 for lifting the garbage incurring avoidable expenditure
of Rs 2.14 crores（Anand 2010: 141）.
⑶　A successful pilot project was carried out at one hectare plot at the Gorai dump yard in Mumbai, where a 6 m waste heap
 60

was brought down to ground level in just 40 days using windrow technology by Vini Agro tech. However, the municipality
rejected this project（Jain 2007）.
⑷　National Buildings Construction Corporation offered its assistance to Municipal Corporation in Deonar project. The
company proposed to recover the expenditure on waste processing plant by selling products recovered from waste. However,
the municipality rejected project of NBCC（Purohit 2010）.
⑸　Nisarguna can produce 25-30 kg of methane and 50-60 kg of organic manure from one tonne of biodegradable waste.
Constructing a one tonne waste plant costs Rs.15 lakh（US $ 2,414）and it can be installed in two months（Prasad 2012）.

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