Japan’s Quantity of Waste and Recycling Rate Both Down in Fiscal 2024

Japan’s Ministry of the Environment has announced the results of its fiscal 2024 survey on the status of municipal solid waste generation and treatment. According to the results, total waste generation decreased year-on-year by 2.2%, to 38.1 million tons. The daily amount of waste generated per person also fell by 1.5%, to 839 grams. Household waste accounted for about 70% of all waste, at 26.4 million tons, while business-related waste totaled 11.8 million tons.

Compared to the situation in fiscal 2015, total waste generation has decreased by 13.7%. Over that period, the amount of waste generated per person per day fell by 100 grams.

Of the waste generated, more than 90% was subjected to intermediate treatment such as incineration, crushing, or sorting, while 3.1 million tons were disposed of in final disposal sites. After intermediate processing, 4.3 million tons were recycled. The total volume of recycled resources—including waste directly sorted as recyclables and materials recovered through community group collection—was 7.4 million tons, a 3.4% year-on-year decrease. The recycling rate stood at 19.3%, down 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year.

Waste Treatment Costs Total ¥2.4 Trillion

As of the end of fiscal 2024, there were 991 waste incineration facilities in Japan, a decrease of 13 compared to the previous year. Among these facilities, 710 utilize residual heat, while 414 are equipped with power generation systems. The facilities generated 10,448 GWh of electricity, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of around 2.7 million households.

Total expenses for waste management operations rose 6.9% year-on-year, to ¥2.45 trillion. The breakdown includes ¥560 billion for construction and improvement costs, and ¥1.78 trillion for treatment and maintenance expenses.

Data Sources

• Data on solid waste management (Japanese) from the Ministry of the Environment

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)