I was always felt guilty back then in Indonesia if I bought something with plastic bags. Because, we all knew that plastic bags are hazardous especially for environment well-being. However, if i bought something from convenience (even in Japan, though it’s unnecessary) I often reject anytime the cashier offered me a plastic bags. As long as I’m still capable for carrying my own groceries by myself or if it still fit into my backpack. Hopefully, my act will bring less harm to my surroundings. But anyway, I am just one person, no ?
I have been lived in Kitakyushu for 3 months. Up until now, I still find mind blowing things around me. Therefore, I feel like I have to write it for my personal journal. Who knows if someday this will bring benefit for me and my society ? Today, I will write something about waste.
First thing first, we all knew that Japan has a deep concern upon waste management. They separated waste based on its type. There are household waste, cans, plastic bottles and PET bottles. Each of them have their own color of plastic bags. Blue for household waste, green and orange for plastic bottles and black for cans. The garbage truck will pick up each waste on a specific days within a week. At the beginning, it’s quiet troublesome for me. Hence, it is only a tip of an iceberg. Do we ever realize where are all of these waste going? What are they going to do with all of these waste? And, why on the earth should I separate them, because like, they are all basically waste aren’t they ?
I was a little bit surprised when I found many food products (especially instant food such as ramen) sold in styrofoam packaging. As for Indonesia, styrofoam has been labelled as an act of crime against environment since it’s causing harm. Some city such as Bandung has restricted and terminate the usage of styrofoam. Quiet make sense, though. Though, why is it for country like Japan still use a lot of styrofoam for their products ? Is the “Green city and green environment” was only a gimmick at all?
I found my answer on Wednesday, November 28th 2018. I went to Eco-Town Project in Kitakyushi city along with some students from Bandung Institute of Technology. It took around a half and an hour to get into that place by bus. At my first glance, to be honest there’s nothing particular or attracting spot in that place. Everything looks very ordinary at my first glance. It’s just an old ship-container-looking factory. But, they prove me wrong. Within this area, Kitakyushu city has developed a massive movement (or a revolution, perhaps) to reduce, reuse and recycling a waste.
In the beginning, the staff welcomed us and introduced us to the goal and vision of Kitakyushu city. History speaks by itself. Kitakyushu was once an industrial city which produced a lot of waste. Coal and steel mining were they main commodity. Even Dokai-bay, was known as a dead sea due to its water pollution. Realizing that the citizen couldn’t make a proper living in a polluted environment, they started to design a masterplan and long-term project for their city. Hence, Kitakyushu Eco-Town project comes out proposing solution for their harmful environment.
Eco-Town project was basically an industrial-tourism. It provided us education about how the city is managing their waste. The process is basically simple. They separated cans, regular bottles and PET bottles in the beginning. It was done by man power. After being separated, the machine began the cleansing process. Some of the products were remade, and the others were also extracted into raw material to create another products such as toys, filling for doll, etc. Eco-Town also collect broken electronic stuff, parts and home appliances. Some of them were updated, the others which has a bad condition was dumped and being extracted into a raw steel material such as steel pellet. Furthermore, this raw material can be reused to create the same or another products. The results however are beyond my expectation.
This suits and shirts were made from 10 plastic bottles. The raw material then extracted into some kind of elastic fiber, and they turned it into apparel products. I do realize that this isn’t a new technology at all. It’s been out there since 2012 or so I think. Some sports apparel brand such as Adidas and Nike, have created a jersey made out of plastic bottles for professional sports or soccer team. But for witnessing it by myself, it was still amazing.
Japan, specifically Kitakyushu has opened my mind and my eyes that a better (or the only) way to save our environment is to reuse and recycling waste. Because reducing waste, even from its main source is never enough, though. Also, Japan has taught me an important lesson of reviving and an enormous restoration effort from the worst circumstances. Management is the key. With the proper vision and a strong synergy between government, stakeholder and society, Japan has proven they are able to save themselves from environment degradation potential in the future.
Sapta Maulida 