Young Global Leaders

Trash Talk and Leadership

Dramatic Decline in Yokohama Garbage

In the city of Yokohama, the total amount of garbage has decreased by 36%. A reduction of this magnitude has never before been seen in any other Japanese municipality. This reduction came because G30, the plan my team and I initiated to reduce the amount of garbage by 30%, has taken effect.

With a population of some 3.6 million, Yokohama is the biggest city in Japan. Moreover, its population continues to grow, as evidenced by the steady stream of new, large-scale condominium buildings going up. Indeed, in big cities whose residents are accustomed to comfortable and convenient living, the amount of garbage tends towards constant increase; even a 10% reduction has heretofore been regarded as impossible. This was the case in Yokohama as well; formerly, Yokohama residents were allowed to take out garbage without first sorting it. The same bags contained food waste, bottles, cans, paper, apparel and even frying pans; all types of combustible and non-combustible refuse were jumbled together. One of the reasons for the lack of a pre-sorting requirement was Yokohama's high-performance incinerators, which are capable of incinerating all articles together at a high temperature.

Decision as Mayor

After serving as a member of the National Diet for a period of nine years, I was elected mayor of Yokohama in April 2004. Of the many tasks then confronting the city, I regarded reducing the volume of garbage as one of the most pressing. This was not because of a shortage of landfill sites for disposal of incineration ash, as was the case in other municipalities. Instead, I believed that the times called for me to direct citizens’ attention to wasteful lifestyles premised on mass consumption and to take such action with a view to preserving the global environment for succeeding generations.

Global warming continues to worsen and is accompanied by problems such as distortion of ecosystems and destruction of forests. The garbage problem, however, may be regarded as laying at the very exit of the way we live and at the very entrance of the global environment. Urban living, in particular, is deeply intertwined with global environmental problems. If urbanization were to proceed across the globe and the whole world seek to lead a modern urban lifestyle, global environmental problems would surely become even more serious. This is precisely why it is my belief that we must revise lifestyles in cities, which now hold about half of the world's population. Herein lies the significance of action beginning with the people of Yokohama.

Despite opposition, I nevertheless announced the G30 plan in January 2003. The G30 plan was aimed at reducing the garbage disposal volume in 2010 by 30% relative to 2001 through rigorous pre-sorting and the widest possible recycling efforts. Despite resistance, the programme has been a success – the amount of garbage discarded from April 2006 to March 2007 was 35.9% less than in 2001.

The Leader's Role

If Yokohama had not taken any action to reduce garbage, no one would have complained. City officials came up with a host of reasons why the reduction would be impossible, and told me it had no chance of succeeding. Some citizens even complained, asking why they had to be put to such bother. Up to that time, high value had been placed on lifestyles resting on mass consumption, sanitary incineration and disposal, and the convenience of doing without sorting. The waste processing system simply adapted to this paradigm. As far as citizens were concerned, the system was convenient and dependable, and they were used to how it worked.

Conversion of established values and the social system grounded in them takes a lot of effort and determination and is generally a daunting proposition. But this is exactly why the situation calls for a leader. To anticipate the future with a solid perception of the present, make the hard decisions when it is time to revise the established values and modus operandi and take up the challenge of rebuilding systems accordingly is what being a leader is all about.

I decided to go ahead with the G30 plan precisely because I was convinced of the need for converting the prevailing urban-type values represented by the garbage problem and the corresponding social system in Yokohama. We were able to construct a new system that was keyed by citizen participation and repeatedly explained it to the public to win their understanding. The plan consequently managed to change citizens’ outlook and achieve results beyond its target.

The established social systems bred by prevailing laws and rules are right in front of our eyes. Yet in contrast, new ones to replace them must be imagined. While we may do our best to describe what cannot be seen and fire citizens’ imaginations, it is no easy task to persuade people of the merits of change. This is because it is easier for them to place priority on the immediate benefits before them.

However, when a leader discerns the value required by the situation, he or she must advocate for change and make the decisions needed to establish it. This sort of value judgment is at the heart of the leader's role. I intend to continue asking whether things are really right as they are and how they could be improved, and making value judgments as a politician responsible for the well-being of my citizens.