Eco Town Tour Program

There are numerous Eco Town programs throughout Japan working to implement a sophisticated vision of environmentally friendly town planning. Although Minamata’s Eco Town is small in scale, citizens serve as ‘Eco Town Guides’ to show visitors around the development’s factories. The program is gaining attention for its focus on citizen participation.

Visit to Factory Where Empty Bottles are ‘Reborn’
Minamata City sorts glass bottles into 6 categories for collection. The plant washes Sakè bottles suitable for reuse and ships them out. Non-reusable bottles are crushed and recycled. Among other uses, the resulting cullet is employed as paving material for roads.
(Reference: Minamata Sales Office (Ecobo Minamata), Tanaka Sh_ten Co., Ltd)

Visit to A Household Appliance Recycling Plant
This Minamata plant collects unneeded refrigerators and air conditioners from throughout Southern Kyushu. Materials such as metals and plastics are sorted and sent to other facilities where they will be ‘reborn’. Visitors can learn how the electrical appliances on which our daily lives so greatly depend are recycled.
(Reference: Enterprise Act – B Recycling Co., Ltd)

Visit a Plant That Transforms Raw Sewage into Fertilizer
Raw sewage and septic sludge collected from Minamata City, and Tsunagi and Ashikita towns are subjected to microbial treatment in a reactor bio-system (RBS). The sludge generated, dehydrated and rich in organic matter and minerals is dried out for use in the cultivation of crops such as onions and tangerines.
(Reference : Enterprise Environmental Technology Co., Ltd.