3Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, a Story from Hamamatsu
RAPID urbanization grounds cities to find solutions to manage their high generation of waste. It is not only to manage waste, but how to turn it into something valuable. UCLG ASPAC promotes “Zero Waste is Possible in Our Place” to assist cities and local governments to implement 3R programs. Striving for a similar goal, Japan Environmental Sanitation Center (JESC) invited UCLG ASPAC to the 9th 3R Conference for Asian Local Governments “3R Development by City-to-City Cooperation” hosted by our active Japanese member, Hamamatsu from 30 January – 2 February 2017. There are many other things in addition to 3Rs we can learn from Hamamatsu. Many of us might not know that Hamamatsu has the largest solar panel usage in the whole country, that helps the city boost its energy system. Hamamatsu’s charm lies with good nature, sea, mountain and river that society protects, its castle that brings good fortune for its visitors.
Welcoming the invitation, Secretary General, Dr. Bernadia I. Tjandradewi spoke as one of keynote presenters. She shared UCLG ASPAC’s effort in minimizing waste’s problems and its collaboration with partners, UNESCAP on the Integrated Resource Recovery Centre (IRRC) system. The collaboration went through several processes that included awareness raising up to IRRC project implementation in cities in Indonesia. Several steps were taken before selecting which city/region is fitting for IRRC, a Centre where a significant portion of waste (80-90%) can be processed in a cost effective way, close to the source of generation and in decentralized manner. The Secretary General stressed that IRRC provides not only economic and environmental benefits, but also social benefits. With good revenue scheme, capital and operation of IRRC can be recovered. Therefore, IRRC is sustainable since it builds multi-stakeholder partnership, improves behavior changes and provides cost –recovery scheme. Low carbon society was also another effort taken, this time applied in Wakatobi Regency, Indonesia. The action covers anti-littering campaign, cleaning the beach campaign (held in collaboration with Yokohama City University), and building integrated waste management pilot project. Challenges of 3Rs implementation includes lack of political will and transparency, unexplored partnership amongst relevant stakeholders, lack of understanding on the value of 3Rs. In relation to these, Secretary General stressed out the need of strong political will and proof of co-benefits to boost 3Rs. She added IRRC was one of the solutions that every local government could pursue. In discussion session, issues to further enhance city-to-city cooperation were highlighted. As follow-up actions, UCLG ASPAC will assist Hamamatsu and Bandung that have signed an agreement to work together in various fields, including water and solid waste management.