Measuring and Evaluating Recycling Costs for Containers and Packaging in Local Governments

Abstract

Some of the most important questions for managing Japan’s recycling system include how much should recycling costs be set at and who should bare them. This paper estimates recycling costs on a volume basis by using inverse density of the waste. After this theory was proposed and measured by the authors, comparisons were made between the types of waste, between the municipalities, and by volume-basis and weight-basis. A questionnaire survey was conducted in 13 municipalities revealing the recycling costs for aluminum cans, steel cans, PET bottles, and glass bottles, on both a weight-basis and a volume-basis. The results are discussed here.