Pergamon

PII: S0956-053X(96)00107-9
Wast e Management , Vol. 16, Nos 5/6, pp. 395~405, 1996
1997 Elsevier Science Lt d
All ri ght s reserved. Printed in Gr eat Britain
0956-053X/96 $15.00 + 0.00
MUNI CI PAL SOLI D WASTE MANAGEMENT
IN JAPAN
Shin-ichi Sakai
Environment Preservation Center Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-01, Japan
INTRODUCTION
Basic measures taken in recent years to control waste
management in Japan include: (1) Pollution preven-
tion, (2) reuse and recycling, and (3) waste incinera-
tion with air pollution control.
It is generally agreed that it is appropriate to follow
the assigned priority of these options. Municipal
solid waste (MSW) is the responsibility of the citizen,
the local government and the business sector. The
principal strategy to manage MSW is to prevent the
discharge of waste and, where waste must be dis-
charged, to recycle as much as possible to reduce the
quantity. However, even if effort is made to minimize
the amount of waste, a large proportion still requires
treatment in view of the activities of modern society.
Once waste is generated, it must be incinerated
and/or buried in landfills if it cannot be recycled.
Incineration plays an important role in Japan where
landfill sites are difficult to secure. With these cir-
cumstances in mind, the author outlines the origin of
MSW in Japan and the recycling process and the
present status of thermal recycling with pollution
control. Ash regulation and its treatment methods
are also discussed.
REUSES AND RECYCLING IN JAPAN
Physical Composition of "Actual Municipal Solid
Waste"
It is important to build up, in material recycling of
MSW, social systems for sorting and separating
"Latent MSW" and realize an economic demand
structure for recovered resources. This is simply
because, if MSW is discharged without being
separated, it must be handled as a mixture of com-
plicated physical composition, which makes it diffi-
cult to recover materials from automated recycling
systems. At present, materials discharged as MSW
include recyclable paper and metal. This indicates
that a large proportion of "Latent MSW" is
becoming "Actual MSW". Thus, the physical
composition of MSW would be of significance in
evaluating the effects of material recovery. Table 1
shows an example of the physical composition
of MSW in representative megalopolies of Japan. 1
It is not easy to compare indiscriminately such
composition because collection modes and weight
percent bases, wet or dry, differ from city to city, but
in terms of weight ratio on a wet basis, used paper
and kitchen waste account for about 30% each of the
total, plastics about 10%, glass 5% and metal 5%.
Table 1 is a view of MSW in terms of weight ratio.
Another view, in terms of volumetric ratio, is
equally important in considering the capacities of
collection vehicles and landfill sites. Takatsuki 2 has
been conducting a volume ratio-based study of the
physical composition of MSW for some ten years
now, in addition to a study on a small-fractionated
physical composition. Figure 1 shows the results
of analysis of recent volume-base MSW physical
composition in Kyoto City) Kitchen waste, which
accounts for about 25% in terms of weight ratio,
accounts for some 10% in terms of volumetric ratio.
Paper, accounting for approximately 25% in terms
of weight ratio, accounts for some 35% in terms of
volumetric ratio. With plastics, the proportions are
approximately 10% and 40%, respectively, indicating
that the proportion surges in the volumetric ratio.
That is to say, paper and plastics are of relatively
greater significance than other ingredients of MSW
from the standpoint of waste collection cost and
processing landfill site capacity.
Kyoto City classifies household waste composition
by purpose of use of the original materials, as shown
in Fig. 2. In terms of wet weight ratio some 40%
comes from foodstuff and 25% from containers and
packaging material. In terms of volumetric ratio,
however, containers and packaging material account
395
396 S. SAKAI
TABLE 1
Physi cal Composition o f Japan' s Muni ci pal Sol i d Wast e, Records o f 1989"
Paper Kitchen Fabric Wooden Plastics Rubber, Metal Glass Ceramic Soil & Others Remarks
waste waste leather Rubbish
Sapporo 25.2 46.6 2.4 1.7 12.5 +-- 3.7 7.1 ~ 0.8 ~ Mixed collected waste
Wet basis
Tokyo 44.5 31.3 3.9 6.1 7.8 0.2 1.2 1.1 0.1 ,-- 3.8 Combustible waste
Wet basis
Yokohama 40.0 9.8 4.2 5.8 14.8 ,--- 5.7 13.2 ~ 6.5 +-- Mixed collected waste
Dry basis
Osaka 35.7 6.5 5.9 5.2 20.3 +-- 5.3 7.1 2.7 - - - - Mixed collected waste
Dry basis, H20 46%
*Numerical values indicate weight percentage.
1 0 ~
Ileta I
805
Dr and leather
605
4~
2(Zl
Wet weight Volumetrio rati o
(415.6kg) (4. 2521.)
FI GURE 1. Physical composition of household wastes comparison
between weight ratio and volumetric ratio.
100~
80~
Narketinl
as direct
40~
20~
n business
irations
Is commodities
tad
mt ar i t l
Wet weight Vohmetric rati o
i415.6kg) (4,252L)
FI GURE 2. Physical composition of household wastes by origin.
for more than 60% of the total. Understanding
MSW on the basis of weight, volumetric and original
material is very important in considering approaches
to MSW reduction and verifying the effects of
avoidance and recycling measures taken, as well as in
furthering material recovery from "Latent MSW"
and understanding the effects of recycling. It will
be required in future to establish an organization
to gather information on the physical composition of
MSW from a wider range of sources, for process into
even more accurate statistical values than today.
Summary of Recycling Law of Containers and
Packaging 4
Until now municipal solid waste management, from
its collection and transport to treatment and dispo-
sal, has been the responsibility of municipalities.
Under the new packaging recycling law 1995, muni-
cipalities, consumers and enterprise will share the
responsibility and cost of the recycling of waste con-
tainers and packaging. The term "containers and
packaging" is defined in the law as containers and
packaging of products which become unnecessary
when the products are consumed or when the pro-
ducts are separated from containers or packaging.
According to the definition, al l containers and
packaging which are attached to products are con-
sidered to be subject to the law. The law proposes
that municipalities would carry out the separate col-
lection of containers and packaging wastes and con-
sumers would incorporate the sorting and separate
collection of these wastes. Enterprise would recycle
and recommercialize the containers and packaging
wastes which the municipalities have collected. Spe-
cific enterprises would have to recommercialize the
volume of waste containers and packaging which
they were responsible for using or producing. Enter-
prises would carry this responsibility out in the
following three methods, as shown in Fig. 3.
Personal collection. Containers and packaging
would be exempted from the obligation to recom-
mercialize if their method of collection is certified as
fulfilling a certain recovery rate fixed by a competent
ministerial ordinance, when collection is carried out
by the enterprise itself or by someone contracted to
collect the material. For example, when specific
enterprises using returnable containers such as beer
bottles receive this certification, even if a part of the
container is discarded as municipal solid waste, the
container would be exempted from the obligation to
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398 S. SAKAI
recommercialize. Also, when specific enterprises col-
lect the same kind of containers and packaging which
they manufacture or use, or contract someone else to
collect, the volume of the collection would be deducted
from the volume of obligation to recommercialize.
Trusting to approved corporation. The corporation
would receive approval from the minister to handle
the recommercialization of waste for specific enter-
prises. Thus, these enterprises could contract out the
collection to meet their obligations to the law.
Approval f or recommercialization. Specific enterpri-
ses would either carry out recommercialization by
themselves or could contract specially approved cor-
porations to do it. Alternatively, it would be neces-
sary to obtain a special approval of the competent
minister in order to guarantee that they have reached
certain standards.
The operation of sorting and separating collection,
which is based on the municipal scheme, would be
enforced within two years or, from April 1997. How-
ever, containers and packaging made mainly from
paper or plastic which are specified by a government
ordinance would be enforced within five years, or
from the year 2000.
Present Status of Material Recycling in Japan
Used paper. The paper and pulp statistics 5 reveal
that Japanese production of paper and plate paper--
the paper used for manufacturing corrugated card-
board--amounted to 28.31 million tons in 1992 (26.8
million tons in 1989). This is the world's second
highest production, following the 69.5 million tons in
the U.S. in 1989. In terms of per capita consumption
of paper, Japan is the third largest, registering 228
kg/person/year, following the 304 kg/person/year in
the U.S. and the 223 kg/person/year in Sweden. The
recycling rate of used paper in Japan was 51.3% in
1993 and the reuse rate was 53.1%. These levels are
very high by world standards, may be the highest.
Furthermore, Japan achieved the target of 55% in
1994. However, the reuse rate of normal paper
represents only 25% and that of plate paper 86%.
Thus, used paper is recycled and reused at a high
rate, turned into plate paper which is the material for
corrugated cardboard. Judging from the general
recycling rate of used paper, it seems that the recy-
cling rates of used newspaper and cardboard are
better than the overall average of 50%. Thus, the
recycling and reuse of used paper has long been
positively promoted socially, for example in the small
business exchange system. This encourages us to hold
to our conventional commitment, i.e. continuation of
used newspaper and corrugated cardboard collection
as a central role in recycling. Materials whose
recycling should be furthered in the future are fine-
quality paper, such as that for printing in information
processing, the probable major cause of the recent
increase in the amount of MSW, and those types
of paper which have a low reuse rate and a low
recycling rate.
Interesting surveys on the causes of such infre-
quent reuse have been conducted by Kyoto City. 6
Based on the results of a questionnaire survey (reply
rate: ca. 68%) on the destination of used paper waste
which compared 320 enterprises and 30 public sec-
tors. The results indicated that newspaper was sold to
used paper collection businesses by approximately
66% of the organizations surveyed and corrugated
cardboard was sold by 73% of the survey subjects,
whereas computer continuous forms, photocopy
paper and ledgers and slips were disposed by
approximately 54, 69 and 69% of the businesses,
respectively, indicating a low rate of recycling. One of
the main reasons for a large percentage of the com-
puter forms, photocopies and ledgers and slips not
being recycled was that they were considered confi-
dential documents. In sharp contrast are the main
reasons for not recycling newspaper and cardboard;
the storage space is lacking and acceptable collection
businesses are not available. In the current situation,
paper used for confidential documents is incinerated,
together with other I paper not requiring confidential
attention. It is desired that greater care be taken on
the side of discarders to ensure that only confidential
documents are discarded. Another finding of the
survey implies that the subject organizations strongly
desire public sector involvement in the collection and
storage of confidential documents. This is one of the
aspects to be given further consideration. Fine-quality
paper is recycled primarily into sanitary paper,
whereas the reuse rates of low-quality and plate
papers are generally held to be near their upper lim-
its. Hence, the reuse rate of used paper in printing
and information-processing must be raised to
enhance paper recycling.
Used metal. The production of steel cans, combin-
ing drink and general cans, is an estimated 17 billion
pieces for the year 1988, i.e. 730,000 tons a year
(assuming an average can weighs 42 g), whereas alu-
minum cans are estimated to amount to 8 billion
pieces for 1989, or 150,000 tons a year (assuming that
a can weighs 18.7 g). Of the total can production
(approx. 25 billion pieces) steel accounts for some
68% of the weight and aluminum 32%. The recycling
rate of steel cans was 61% in 1993 (45% in 1988),
whereas aluminum was 58% (43% in 1988). The
target was to raise the rate to 60%. Steel cans are
normally recycled through the electric furnace process.
There are some restrictions 7 for recycling material:
non-ferrous materials (copper, aluminum and tin,
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN 399
etc.), and impurities such as plastics must be removed
from the material prior to being compressed into a
small size (length + width + height = 180 cm max.
with each side not longer than 80 cm). If these cri-
teria are not met, the steel can and scrap is rendered
valueless. Another problem is that for prices of raw
iron and imported steel scrap are lower than the cost
of the domestic collection of secondary materials.
For aluminum cans, however, the move toward
recycling is taking root owing to the advantage that
only 590 kWh/ton of energy is needed to produce
recycled aluminum metal, which is only 3% of the
energy (21,100 kWh/ton) needed to produce virgin
aluminum. It is very likely that government and
industry will encourage further moves toward alumi-
num recycling. The share of aluminum cans in drink
containers in the U.S. was 1% in 1964. This surged to
90% in 1984 and the recycling rate reached 50% or
higher. ~ With reference to this, it is suggested that
the upturn in the aluminum can recycling rate in
Japan requires an increase in the number of collec-
tion stations and supply collection boxes, thus fur-
ther improving the collection system.
Used glass. In 1990 about 2.4 million tons, or 11
billion glass bottles, were produced. In terms of
weight ratio, returnable bottles accounted for about
25% and one-way bottles for about 75% of the total.
In a survey by the Glass Bottle Recycling Promotion
Federation, the total bottle distribution was approxi-
mately 6.3 million tons a year, amounting to around
15 billion pieces. Bottles are generally returned to
liquor shops and other retailers, and then to whole-
salers and bottle companies, and finally to bottlers.
The recycling ratio of beer bottles was 97% in 1993
and that of rice wine bottles (1.8 1) 83%. This channel
of bottle distribution, established as a product con-
tainer circulation line, constitutes a social system
which will encourage further administrative action
toward the dissemination of returnable bottles.
The recycling system of broken glass in the form of
cullet as raw material for glass manufacture belongs to
the material recovery system. In addition to material
collected through liquor shops and other retailers,
glass cullet follows a flow from some associated
group collection and public sector-involved separa-
tion, cuUet-handling businesses, and finally to glass
manufacturers where the cullet is recycled into bot-
tles. The cullet use rate was 55.5% in 1993 (48% in
1990). Treatment, including removal of contaminant
materials, color sorting and washing is carried out in
the recycling process. Efficiency in this process is the
greatest problem with glass cullet recycling.
Quality standards for glass cullet include standards
for heterogeneous glass, specifying that chromite and
similar minerals, and non-melting substances do not
remain and that concrete, soil and stones including
bricks, are 50 ppm or less in total. In addition, stan-
dards for metal such as iron should be 5 ppm or less,
ceramic 20 ppm or less and plastics 100 ppm or less.
Such requirements necessitate strong measures to
maintain good quality in cullet manufacture. The
strong tendency to seek colorless, transparent bottles
in today' s glass bottle manufacture incurs demand
for the provision of cuUet sorted by color which is a
barrier to glass recycling. The fact that the price of
culler as a raw material is very often higher than that
of virgin material, and that a bottle made from cullet
weighs more, suggests the need for further improve-
ment of separate collection stations and further
action toward circulated use.
Used plastics. Material recovery from plastics and
material recycling were launched only recently with
the collection of only polyethylene phthalate PET
bottles and foam trays. Such a short history does not
allow the author to judge whether or not the recy-
cling and reuse of plastics is possible in the current
social system. PET resin production for bottles was
at 100,000 tons a year and polystyrene foam products
at 238,000 tons a year. This is because separation of
plastic types is very difficult under the present condi-
tions. Everyone knows that a wide variety of resins
are discharged as waste, ranging from the polyolefine
(PO) family to polystyrene (PS) to polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) to polyethylene phthalate (PET). However, it
is difficult to collect these separately. It is clear that,
excluding PET (all of which is used for drink bottles),
PO, PS and PVC plastics are applied to a very wide
spectrum of products. The results of a questionnaire
survey 3, asking household waste generators if they
knew the differences among plastic resins, showed
that only 2.4% of those replying answered "Yes" and
were capable of naming such resins. When plastics
are viewed as a subject of material recovery from
MSW, it is therefore reasonable to think it impossible
to collect resins separately under the current system,
except where a single resin is used for a given range
of products (e.g. PET bottles). Even if marking by type
of resin continues to be promoted, there is no reason
to expect waste discharge in completely sorted con-
dition. The ideal material recovery and reuse meth-
ods for plastics should be pursued with a recognition
of this defect. If society cannot choose this direction,
despite recognizing the positive effect of plastics
reuse, the next best measure would be to recover the
oil or incinerate the material and generate power.
WASTE MANAGEMENT WITH POLLUTION
CONTROL
The Present Status of Waste Management in Japan 9
The amount of MSW generated in Japan in 1992 was
50.20 million tons compared to 50.77 million tons in
400 S. SAKAI
52
s o
~ 4s
E 4s
.,2
42
40
mmm Pamual amount of MSW
Per capita amount o f MS W
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
Year
FIGURE 4. MSW amount between 1987 and 1992 in Japan.
1.20
1.15
A
1.10 !
1.05
1.00
c
0.95
0.90 ~.
0.85
0.80
a
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
23.4 23 21.6 20.4
72.6 72.8 73.9 74.4
1987 1988 1989 1990
Year
FIGURE 5. MSW management methods in Japan.
17 14.9
N __E
72.8 74.3
ODirectlandfill
OOthers
m s~u- ~i ~r e~a~
O Incimmk~
, I I
1991. The pr omot i on of an appr opr i at e st rat egy f or
waste r educt i on and an economi c recession are con-
sidered t o be t he reasons f or t he 1.1% decrease. Per
capi t a generat i on of MSW amount s t o 1.10 kg which
also decreased f r om t he previ ous year (Fig. 4). The
r at i o of waste recycling fol l owed by t reat ment s such
as i nci nerat i on has been increasing year by year and
t he rat i o was 85. 1% in 1992 (83% in 1991). Of the
t ot al MSW generat ed which has been t reat ed inter-
mediately, t he rat i o of di rect i nci nerat i on was 74. 3%,
t he t ot al rat i o of bot h MSW whi ch has passed ot her
met hods such as crushi ng and separat i on and com-
post i ng was 10.7% (Fig. 5). Conversel y, t he amount
of MSW t o be di rect l y landfilled was 7.33 million
t ons in 1992 (8.46 million t ons in 1991), which were
equi val ent t o 14.9% (17. 0% in 1991) of t he t ot al
amount . Bot h t he quant i t y and rat i o have decreased
significantly. The amount of resource recovery by
separat e col l ect i on and mat eri al separat i on was
1.93 million tons, the rat i o of which was 3. 9%. The
amount of resource col l ect ed by some associated
gr oup col l ect i on was 2.16 million t ons (1.41 million
t ons in 1992), which was also significantly increasing.
In 1991, t he number s of MSW i nci nerat i on and
compost i ng facilities were 1,841 and 29, respectively.
The dai l y t r eat ment capaci t y was nearl y 178,000 t ons
in 1991. The number of landfill sites was 2,361
and t hei r remai ni ng capaci t y was 154 mi o (million)
m 3. The number of years remai ni ng f or landfill in t he
Ki nki area was about 6.8 years, whereas in t he
Tokyo met r opol i t an areas t he number was about 4.6
years.
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN JAPAN
TABLE 2
Municipal Waste Incinerators in Japan (Japan Waste Research Foundation in 1991)
401
Number of facilities Stoker furnace Fluidized bed furnace Other types Total
Continuous type 374 33 3 410 (24.3 %)
Semi-continuous type 188 81 0 269 (16.0%)
Mechanical-batch type 812 3 0 815 (48.3 %)
Fixed-grate batch type 193 0 0 193 (11.4%)
Total 1567 117 3 1687 (100%)
(92.9%) (6.9%) (0.2%) (100%)
Capacity (tons/day) Stoker furnace Fluidized bed furnace Other types Total
Continuous type 112,044 7049 700 l 19,793 (72.7%)
Semi-continuous type 15,364 5573 0 20,937 (12.7%)
Mechanical-batch type 22,364 95 0 22,459 (13.6%)
Fixed-grate batch type 1580 0 0 1580 (1.0%)
Total 151,352 12,717 700 164,679 (100%)
(91.9%) (7.7%) (0.4%) (100%)
Thermal Treat ment with Pollution Cont rol lA1
The results of a survey conduct ed by t he J apan
Wast e Research Foundat i on on t he status of muni -
cipal wast e i nci nerat i on are summar i zed in Tabl e 2.
The number of MWI in J apan is al most 1,800, out of
whi ch 1,687 facilities have answered this survey. The
muni ci pal wast e i nci nerat i on pl ant s in J apan are
classified as cont i nuous, semi -cont i nuous, mechani cal
bat ch and fi xed-grat e bat ch types. The cont i nuous
t ypes are equi pped wi t h mechani cal systems whi ch
can feed wast e i nt o t he i nci nerat or, t ransfer and agi-
t at e wast e in t he i nci ner at or and di scharge t he ash
cont i nuousl y and easily under st eady combust i on
cont r ol . They oper at e 24 hour s a day. Semi -cont i nu-
ous t ypes oper at e on t he same pri nci pl e but mor e
i nt ermi t t ent l y. They general l y oper at e 16 hour s a
day. Mechani cal bat ch t ype facilities are not equi p-
ped wi t h a mechani cal syst em whi ch can feed waste
i nt o t he i nci ner at or easily and cont i nuousl y and t end
t o combust i nt ermi t t ent l y. They oper at e, in principle,
ei ght hour s a day. Par t or all of t he grat es are power
oper at ed, and t he agi t at i on of waste and di scharge
of ash are carri ed out mechani cal l y. Fi xed-grat e
bat ch t ype systems are al most t he same as t he
mechani cal bat ch t ype but t hey oper at e wi t hout a
grat e movi ng system. The number of large-size con-
t i nuous t ype i nci nerat ors whi ch oper at e f or 24 hour s
is 410, account i ng f or 24. 3% of t he whol e number ,
and represent s about 120,000 t ons/ day in t erms of
t r eat ment capaci t y (72. 7% of t he t ot al capaci t y).
Cont i nuous t ype i nci nerat ors are small in number
but account f or a large percent age of t r eat ment
capaci t y.
Sufficient measures must be given t o envi r onmen-
tal conser vat i on and efforts must be made t o supply
electric power and hot wat er generat ed by waste heat
energy t hr ough i nci nerat i on t o encour age energy
saving. In Japan, specified cont r ol of hazar dous
substances such as dust, HC1, NOx and SOx gener-
at ed dur i ng i nci nerat i on are in place, but di rect
cont r ol over pol ychl or i nat ed di benzo-p-di oxi ns
( PCDDs) and pol ychl ori nat ed di benzofurans ( PCDFs)
has been onl y par t l y i mpl ement ed at t he moment .
The Mi ni st ry of Heal t h and Wel fare det ermi ned
guidelines f or cont rol l i ng di oxi ns and di benzof ur ans
in muni ci pal waste t r eat ment in December 1990. The
count er measur es whi ch f or m t he nucleus of t he
guidelines are:
1. Measures t o achieve compl et e combust i on,
2. measures t o l ower t emper at ur e of flue gas i nt o
the dust col l ect or and
3. i mpr ovement of t he col l ect i on efficiency of dis-
charged dusts.
Because f or mat i on of PCDDs / PCDFs can be sup-
pressed by achieving compl et e combust i on, const ruc-
t i on designed f or compl et e combust i on and oper at i on
cont r ol are schedul ed t o be carri ed out using com-
bust i on t emper at ur e, car bon monoxi de and oxygen
concent r at i ons in flue gas as indexes. Next , because
PCDDs / PCDFs t end t o be f or med at t he dust
col l ect or t emper at ur e of ar ound 300C, it was
deci ded t o l ower t he inlet t emper at ur e at t he dust
collector. In addi t i on, i nst al l at i on of an el ect rost at i c
pr eci pi t at or or fabri c filter wi t h high dust r emoval
efficiency is pl anned f or the compl et i on of t he
PCDDs / PCDFs r emoval measures as well as t o sup-
press t he f or mat i on. The count er measur es based on
the guidelines f or cont rol l i ng dioxins and di benzo-
furans cur r ent l y pr ovi ded in Japan are expect ed t o
l ower t he PCDDs / PCDFs concent r at i ons in flue gas
t o 0.5 ng/ m3N (2, 3, 7, 8-TCDD t oxi ci t y equi val ent
concent r at i on) in new cont i nuous t ype i nci nerat i on
plants, and t he di scharge of PCDDs / PCDFs f r om
muni ci pal waste i nci nerat i on pl ant s t hr oughout
J apan is expect ed t o decrease t o bel ow 1/10 of t he
402 S. SAKAI
cur r ent level. In addi t i on, because a devel opment of
t echnol ogi es t o decompose slight traces of PCDDs /
PCDFs cont ai ned in i nci nerat i on residue is under-
way, effort must be made t o f ur t her advance devel-
opment f or pract i cal use. Fur t her revision of di oxi n
guideline in Japan must include:
1. Adopt i on of highly efficient gas cleaning sys-
tem,
2. residue dest ruct i on and recycling and
3. wide area management with sophi st i cat ed tech-
nologies and high energy recovery.
Ash Management in Japan 12,13
The Wast e Di sposal and Publ i c Cleansing Law,
whi ch concerns all aspects of waste management , was
t ot al l y amended in Oct ober 1991 (herei naft er referred
t o as t he Wast e Management Law as amended).
Upon est abl i shment of t he Wast e Management Law,
fly ash resulting f r om muni ci pal waste i nci nerat i on
(herei naft er referred t o as MWI ) was desi gnat ed as a
domest i c waste under special cont rol , as possessing
propert i es t hat can affect human heal t h and envi ron-
ment . Al t hough domest i c waste is generally consid-
ered as an essentially non- hazar dous waste f r om
dai l y domest i c activities, r at her t han f r om i ndust ri al
activities, some pr oduct s f or domest i c use cont ai n
hazar dous subst ances even in t race amount s, and
t hey t end t o accumul at e in soot and dust al ong wi t h
ot her hazar dous substances pr oduced dur i ng t hei r
i nci nerat i on. Thi s is the r eason f or t he desi gnat i on of
a waste under special cont rol . Di rect landfill disposal
of such soot and dust (herei naft er referred t o as MWI
fly ash) is banned by t he new regul at i on. Present l y
MWI fly ash f or landfill disposal shoul d under go an
i nt ermedi at e t r eat ment specified by t he Mi ni st er of
Heal t h and Welfare:
1. Mel t i ng and solidification,
2. solidification by cement ,
3. st abi l i zat i on using chemi cal agents, or
4. ext r act i on with acid or ot her solvent.
The t ot al annual amount s of bot t om ash and fly
ash pr oduced by MWI in Japan are cal cul at ed t o be 5
million t ons and 1.2 million t ons, respectively
(Tabl e 3). The assumpt i ons of this cal cul at i on are as
follows. The t ot al muni ci pal waste in 1991 was 50.77
million t ons and t he r at i o of the waste t o be inciner-
ated was 73%. As f or the lime used in the gas t reat -
ment uni t t o neut ral i ze t he acidic substances in t he
exhaust gas, such neut ral i zers are collected t oget her
in fly ash. The amount of neut ral i zer is r oughl y t wo
times the amount of MWI fly ash ori gi nat i ng f r om t he
ash cont ent of waste, al t hough it varies dependi ng on
the nat ur e of the waste, exhaust gas t r eat ment con-
di t i ons and ot her factors. I f we assume t hat 100 t ons
of waste is i nci nerat ed, in whi ch t he waste cont ai ns
15% ash, t he MWI fly ash ori gi nat i ng f r om t he ash in
t he wast e account s f or 10% of t he ash, and an alkali
is added t o t he fly dust at a 2:1 rat i o, t hen 13.5 t ons
of i nci nerat ed bot t om ash and 4.5 t ons of MWI fly
ash will be pr oduced. In the case of a st oker furnace,
al t hough 50% of t he t ot al amount of waste is t reat ed
by t he lime addi t i on process, many st oker pl ant s
adopt wet scrubbing. In 1991, 83% of t ot al facilities
di sposed of fly ash wi t h bot t om ash and 13% of
t hose t reat ed ash using solidification processes. The
Wast e Di sposal Law as amended requires MWI fly
ash t o be subjected t o an i nt ermedi at e t r eat ment
specified by t he Mi ni st ry of Heal t h and Wel fare and
t o meet t he criteria specified by t he Envi r onment
Agency ( Envi r onment Agency Not i fi cat i on No. 42,
Jul y 3, 1992) before subsequent landfill disposal.
Tabl e 4 shows t he f our processes of i nt ermedi at e
t r eat ment specified by the Mi ni st ry of Heal t h and
Wel fare (Mi ni st ry of Heal t h and Wel fare Not i fi ca-
t i on No. 194). Thi s table gives relative eval uat i ons of
the f our processes by t he aut hors. Processes (2), (3)
and (4) are based on chemical react i ons of MWI fly
ash and chemicals f or insolubilizing t he heavy metals
in t he MWI fly ash. In process (1), MWI fly ash is
exposed t o a high t emper at ur e and, thus, volatilizing
substances are recovered as dust (melting fly ash), t he
residue bei ng r ecover ed as rock-l i ke slag. Because t he
slag is basically vi t reous, t he hazar dous heavy met al s
i ncor por at ed t herei n are ver y unlikely t o leach,
remai ni ng stable against leaching oper at i on and sol-
vent pH. Ther e is anot her effect in t hat t he dioxins in
t he MWI fly ash are most l y decomposed because of
t he high t emper at ur e at mosphere. Wi t h these features,
TABLE 3
Ash Production by Municipal Waste Incineration in Japan
Incinerated municipal Bottom ash Fly ash Incinerated residue
waste [106ton/year] [106ton/year] [10~ton/year] I106ton/yearl
Stoker furnace 34.20 4.62 1.03 5.65
Fluidized bed furnace 2.90 0.38 0.13 0.51
Total 37.10 5.00 1.16 6.16
Note: Total municipal waste production in 1991 = 50.77 x 106ton/year. Incineration ratio = 73%. Number of total facilities = 1870. Unit
production of fly ash* = 3% (stoker furnace), 4.5% (fluidized bed furnace). Unit production of bottom ash* = 13.5% (stoker furnace,
fluidized bed furnace). *Assumption: Ash content in municipal waste = 15%. Amount of fly ash = 10% of ash content. Alkali addition =
2 times of fly ash, 50% in case of stoker furnace, 100% in case of fluidized bed furnace.
T
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404 S. SAKAI
TABLE 5
Full-scale Melting Plants of MSW Incineration Residue in Japan
Municipalities Completion Capacity (ton/d) Unit no. Manufacturer Furnace type
1. Numazu City August 1979 20 1 Kubota Rotating surface
2. Kashima Town June 1981 6.5/8 h 1 Takuma Surface melting
3. Eastern Saitama 2 March 1985 14.4 2 Takuma Surface melting
4. Eastern Saitama 1 March 1986 15 2 Takuma Surface melting
5. Isahaya City March 1987 12.3 1 Kubota Rotating surface
6. Sayama City March 1991 15 1 Kubota Rotating surface
7. Tokyo Ota April 1991 250 2 Daido Electric arc
8. Anan City October 1991 4.8 2 Takuma Surface melting
9. Handa City February 1993 24 1 Ebara Plasma
10. Omiya City March 1993 75 1 Daida Electric arc
11. Matsuyama City March 1994 52 1 Ebara Plasma
12. Sakado City July 1994 9.6 1 Takuma Surface melting
13. Shirane Regional Ce nt e r October 1994 7/16 h 1 Kubota Rotating surface
14. Tokai City March 1995 15 2 Nippon Steel Coke bed
15. Eastern Saitama, New 1 Sept ember 1995 80 2 Daido Electric arc
16. Kinuura Regional Cent er September 1995 15 2 I.H.I. Coke bed
17. Sayama City March 1996 15 1 Takuma Surface melting
18. Mima Regional Center March 1997 5/16 h 1 Kobe Steel Plasma
19. Hachioji City March 1998 18 2 NKK Electric Joule
20. Tamagawa Regional March 1998 25 2 Daido Electric arc
21. Kano Regional Center March 1999 30 2 Hitachi Plasma
22. Yokohama City March 2001 60 1 NKK Electric Joule
process (1) is uni que agai nst processes (2), (3) and (4)
whi ch are all based on chemi cal t r eat ment , while
process (1) is based on t her mal t r eat ment .
MWI fly ash can be t her mal l y stabilized by mel t i ng
and solidification. I n any met hod, dependi ng on t he
source of heat i ng energy, fuel and electricity, i nor-
gani c mat er i al s mus t be mel t ed and sl agged while t he
t emper at ur e is kept above t he mel t i ng poi nt o f t he
i norgani cs. Dur i ng this process, heavy met al s wi t h
l ow boi l i ng poi nt s are vol at i l i zed and separ at ed. I n
J apan, t he sewage sludge mel t i ng process was devel-
oped in t he 1980s and has been in pract i cal oper at i on
at al mos t 10 full scale pl ant s. 14,15 Some pl ant s are
bei ng oper at ed in whi ch MWI fly ash, al ong wi t h
i nci nerat i on bot t om ash, is mel t ed. Demons t r at i ve
oper at i on and exper i ment s f or mel t i ng MWI fly ash
al one are under way. 16-19 When consi deri ng ash
t r eat ment it is essential t o accompl i sh bot h decom-
posi t i on of persi st ent or gani c pol l ut ant s such as
di oxi ns and t he r emoval of heavy met al s. Fl y ash
f r om MSW i nci nerat i on is t r eat ed by t he mel t i ng
process in whi ch di oxi ns in t he fly ash are decom-
posed at t emper at ur es of mor e t han 1300C in t he
mel t i ng f ur nace and heavy met al s are concent r at ed in
ash f r om t he dust col l ect or of t he mel t i ng process.
Tabl e 4 gives t he aut hor s ' rel at i ve eval uat i ons
of t he met hods of chemi cal or t her mal st abi l i zat i on
of fly ash. The t abl e gives qual i t at i ve rat i ngs of the
met hods as to pr esent t echni cal devel opment st at us,
t r eat ment cost, final di sposal vol ume, l ong- t er m st a-
bility of resi due and feasi bi l i t y of recycl i ng resources.
As f ar as t he present st at us of t echni cal devel opment
is concer ned, sol i di fi cat i on by cement and chemi cal
t r eat ment can be vi ewed as nearl y compl et el y est ab-
lished t echnol ogi es. However , mel t i ng or aci d ext rac-
t i on are now under devel opment or i mpr ovement .
Tabl e 5 lists MSW ash mel t i ng processes bei ng
oper at ed commer ci al l y and under const r uct i on in
J apan. Even t hough these mel t i ng processes are
now commer ci al i zed t hey have t echnol ogi cal issues
t o resol ve and requi re cont i nuous i nvest i gat i on t o
realize st abl e oper at i on wi t h mi ni mum oper at i on
and mai nt enance cost. Mel t i ng, chemi cal t r eat ment
and acid ext r act i on requi re i nevi t abl y hi gh t r eat ment
cost in compar i son wi t h solidification by cement.
Oper at i ng and Ma na ge me nt cost of mel t i ng is
bet ween 100 US$/ t on and 150 S/ton. The i nst al l at i on
cost of each mel t i ng process is the same level, al mos t
1 mi l l i on S/ton. However , sol i di fi cat i on by cement
i ncreases solid vol ume by a bout 30% or mor e,
resul t i ng in an i ncreased final di sposal vol ume. Al so,
solidification by cement appear s t o be di sadvant a-
geous over ot her met hods in l ong- t er m st abi l i t y of
the solidified pr oduct . Wi t h respect t o met al concen-
t rat i on, separ at i on and resources recycl i ng feasibility,
mel t i ng and aci d ext r act i on are t hought t o be bet t er.
CONCL US I ON
Mat er i al r ecover y f r om MSW is r et ur ni ng mat er i al s
t o t he ci rcul at i on syst em or commenci ng new circu-
lation. To accompl i sh this, t here is a need not onl y
f or t echnol ogy t o recover mat er i al s but al so f or
bui l di ng a social syst em, i ncl udi ng manual separ at i on
MUNI C I P AL S OL I D WAS T E MANAGE ME NT I N J AP AN 405
and the establ i shment o f new economi c structures.
After waste reducti on and recycling, muni ci pal waste
must be incinerated and/ or di sposed o f in landfills.
Incineration plays an i mportant role as a waste
treatment met hod in Japan because o f its high popu-
l ati on density and limited landfill area. Of the 50
mi l l i on t ons o f muni ci pal waste produced in 1992,
74% was incinerated. In 1990, the Ministry o f Heal th
and Welfare promul gated guidelines for control o f
P CDDs / P CDF s in muni ci pal waste treatment. In this
guideline, 0.5 ng TEQ/ Nm 3 is the expected val ue for
new cont i nuous type furnaces. Accordi ng to Japan's
Waste Management Law as amended in 1991, MWI
fly ash cannot be al l owed t o be di sposed o f unless it is
treated by one o f the f our met hods specified by the
Ministry o f Heal th and Welfare. They are:
1. Mel ti ng
2. Solidification by cement
3. Stabilization by chemical agent
4. Aci d extraction.
For ideal l ong-term measures against waste incin-
eration residues, research and devel opment priorities
shoul d be given t o resource recycling, f ol l owed by
stabilization and storage management. Bot h toxi c
reduction and recycling technol ogi es are i mportant
t o the cycle concept for MSW.
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3. Kyot o City Bureau of Public Cleansing. Survey report on a
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4. Yoshida, H. Law for the promotion of sorted collection and
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