Kamikatsu is located about 50km from Tokushima city, capital of Tokushima prefecture in Shikoku Island, Japan.

This small town of 2,200 people is located high up in the mountains that have scenic valleys, waterfalls and rapids, hiking trails, caves, a hot spring and terraced rice fields.

Surprisingly, it was not the natural beauty that attracted me to the cityIt was the garbage. Yes, garbage.

The town reminds me of Broga (Malaysia), which is located about the same distance as Kamikatsu from a city and has similar small-town features. And of course, 'garbage' is a keyword that connects the two.

The difference between Kamikatsu and Broga is that the latter is dubbed as disaster waiting to happen, because of the proposal to built the1,500-tonne incinerator thre.

Kamikastsu, however, has already gone through that phase and moved on. The authorities invested 10 million Yen in two small-scale incinerators, then had regrets and stopped using the plants.

Waste separation

Before the incinerators began operations, every family in Kamikatsu handled their own refuse via open burning and backyard burying.

Sometimes traders would stop by and 'buy' recyclables from residents. When the volume of garbage grew beyond control, the town council decided to take over its management. Incineration was the solution but they realised two years later, that they had a problem with dioxin pollution.

Since dismantling each facility would cost as much as its construction, the incinerators were abandoned.

However, the town council worked hard to raise awareness to reduce and separate waste for recycling based on simple economics: it costs money to transport rubbish, either to incinerators or recycling factories. To reduce that cost is to reduce the amount.

1. Waste reduction at household level would mean that the council would spend less on transporting waste from one place to another. Residents could dispose of trash through composting and reuse.

2. Separation of waste would generate revenue. The council decided to send the separated refuse to recycling factories and get cash to offset transportation costs.

Since Kamikatsu is a small town, there is no house-to-house collection of garbage. Each family is expected to separate their rubbish and take it to the collection centre that is open daily.

Any outsider who visits the collection centre would think that the people of Kamikatsu are recycling freaks.

They have 32 categories of recyclables! Just name it, and there is likely to be a category for it. After the separation process, the town council often finds that there isn't any real garbage left to collect.

Zero-waste target

The council recruits 'Garbage Rangers' to go on awareness-raising rounds on rubbish management and to promote separation.

They also sell household composters at 10,000 Yen each to households. At present, 600 households have bought composters and 200 households do their composting in their own backyards.

The rubbish management exercise has earned the town a couple of awards for sustainable development and education from the environment ministry.

To widen efforts, the town council is now formulating a Vision 2020 declaration to become a zero-waste model town in Japan by year 2020. In line with this, the council is already lobbying automakers to take back old vehicles to be recycled.

According to an official, incineration is not a good idea for several reasons:

- It costs a bomb.

- It threatens the health of the people.

- It requires a constant supply of garbage to meet the minimal amount needed for burning - it's like feeding a hungry monster. This encourages a culture of trash-generation, which is counter-productive to waste reduction efforts.

Even though Kamikatsu is not a 100% zero-waste town yet, it has already attracted many groups to study its 'Garbage Miracle'.

The main thing that kept spinning around in my mind after the visit was can the Malaysia Boleh spirit be extended to include the Kamikatsu experience? Boleh ke?

SAM HUI is a nature lover and avid photographer. He is a member of SOS Selangor, a group campaigning against the Sungai Selangor dam project.