| Reporter:
When walking around Fukuoka City, you notice that there
are no garbage bags on the street.
Reporter:
Fukuoka, with a population of 1.42 million, seems to somehow
maintain a comfortable living environment. Today, I'm going
to find out its secret!
Reporter:
Right now, it's past midnight, one a.m. in the morning.
After everyone's fast asleep the garbage collection begins.
Narration:
In Fukuoka, garbage trucks come and collect garbage that’s
left outside in front of each house, from midnight till
dawn. Not only is it efficient due to less traffic at night,
it also contributes to cutting down the amount of daytime
traffic as well. There are no unsightly garbage bags left
on streets in broad daylight either, and it also prevents
attracting small animals such as crows, that tear open the
garbage bags.
Narration:
Fukuoka is the only designated city to adopt this forward-thinking
nighttime garbage collection system.
Reporter:
Garbage trucks are coming in one after the other. All the
garbage that has been collected is brought into this waste
treatment facility.
Narration:
Fukuoka city produces nearly 2000 tons of garbage a day.
Non-burnable waste is milled into small pieces, and metal
and steel objects are separated so they can be recycled
at the Recycle Center. Burnable waste is incinerated at
high temperature and turned into ashes.
Reporter:
At this point, it's difficult to tell what kind of garbage
it was.
Reporter:
The garbage is reduced to one twentieth of its original
volume, and to one sixth of its original weight.
Reporter:
Can you guess where I'm standing? It may look like a residential
land development, but it's actually a waste landfill site!
Reporter:
I don't see or smell any garbage at all. What's the secret?
Ms. Tashiro:
The landfill system we use here is referred to as the "Fukuoka
Method," and was co-developed by Fukuoka City and Fukuoka
University.
Narration:
Fukuoka once had a serious waste problem. Garbage buried
underground was causing a terrible smell, and the filthy
water seeping from the garbage was polluting the nearby
rivers and the ocean.
Reporter:
The Fukuoka Method is a semi-aerobic landfill system that
was developed to solve those problems.
Ms. Tashiro:
A perforated leachate collection pipe buried underground
promptly removes the leachate as it's created. And the impermeable
liner prevents the leachate from polluting the groundwater
and the river.
Ms. Tashiro:
Since the leachate collection pipe sends fresh air down
to the waste layers, it also promotes microbial activity,
allowing a faster waste decomposition compared to the conventional
method.
Ms. Tashiro:
It considerably reduces the generation of methane gas, therefore
serving as a countermeasure to global warming.
Narration:
Another advantage of this eco-friendly Fukuoka Method is
its simplicity and low cost. The Fukuoka Method has been
adopted not only at most of the landfills in Japan, but
also in more than a dozen countries around the globe.
Ms. Tashiro:
Two years ago, I went to Samoa to offer technical guidance
on the Fukuoka Method. In Samoa, the gargabe was left out
in the open, and unfortunately, this is the case in many
other countries as well.
Ms. Tashiro:
Since the garbage issue is deeply connected to environmental
pollution and global warming, it should be tackled as a
concern for the whole of humanity. I look forward to contributing
to this issue by promoting the low-cost, eco-friendly Fukuoka
Method.
Reporter:
So now we know there are various public measures behind
Fukuoka's clean and sanitary cityscape.
Narration:
In an effort to decrease household waste, Fukuoka City also
introduced a user-pays system in 2005 and has successfully
reduced the garbage by approximately 7 percent.
Reporter:
But as we all know, it is impossible not to produce any
garbage at all. In order to maintain Fukuoka's beautiful
cityscape, it is important to realize that garbage is not
waste, but a valuable resource.
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