The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund
Introduction to Grant Projects
Zero Waste Academy
Using scrap wood for compost monitoring project — Strategy for the reduction of waste which originated from the Great Eastern Japan earthquake disaster area
Activity grant
- Project Description
Debris disposal in areas afflicted by the Great Eastern Japan earthquake is a large problem, and Rikuzentakata City is moving to separate house waste materials, and re-use them. Zero Waste Academy is paying attention to this movement and aims to realize zero waste by eliminating the occurrence of rubbish. In Hayama, a plan was devised by which lumber compost bins are made from waste materials. The project attracted a lot of attention, and after recruiting for monitors of the project within the temporary housing, became very popular. In one month, the waste from over 20 households was buried in the ground and decomposed into bacteria, and we succeeded in reducing waste. The project also spread to other temporary housing facilities. This project aims to explore solutions to use local wood for constructing mechanisms, and propose new support and ways of living for disaster victims.
- Fields
- Climate change
- Grant year
- FY2011 Activity Grants
- Grant term
- 1 year and 10 months
June 2011 - March 2013
- Grant amount
- 7,368,000 yen
- Activity region
- Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, Japan

Overview of the Organization

- Representative
- Director Masato Hoshiba
- Establishment
- 2005
- Establishment year
- Zero Waste's thought process is to reduce garbage as much as possible, from production status to reforms, designs for manufactured goods should not become garbage, so incineration and landfills are the last resort for rubbish by create a mechanism which gives priority to the 3Rs as much as possible (reduce, reuse, recycle). Zero Waste Academy was established in 2003 with the "Zero Waste Declaration" project based in Kamikatsuchou in Tokushima Prefecture with the aim of proceeding with zero waste.
- Main areas of activity
- in Kamikatsuchou in Tokushima Prefecture
- Staff
- 3 full-time staff members, 4 part-time staff members, 30 full members
- Annual operating budget
- 30 million yen in 2008, 36 million yen in 2009, 46 million yen in 2010
- WEB site
- http://www.zwa.jp/
- Collaborating organizations
- Turukawa Daini Elementary School father's PTA meeting / Kiero, Hayama
- Recent activities
- Based in Kamikatsuchou, we are entrusted by the town with the administrative operation of bringing in facilities for local residents waste and recyclable garbage, promoting the planning, investigating, and managing of the 3R project. We also conduct public awareness activities through the implementation of collaborative work with local organizations and lectures at various locations, and by accepting trainees from Japan and abroad. In recent years, by cooperating with international cooperation organizations such as JICA, we accept trainees from abroad and provide guidance on site through grassroots cooperation projects.