Abstract
Treatment of approximately 31000000 tons of disaster wastes, generated out of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, was carried out in several temporary treatment facilities as part of a comprehensive disaster waste treatment system. It was important that the experiences and knowledge obtained through this work of treating the wastes were carefully reviewed and systemized in order to effectively be utilized for any future disasters, in particular catastrophic ones. With this in mind, the Working Group on Systems and Technology, a sub-group of the Committee on Catastrophic Disaster Waste Management, established by the Ministry of the Environment, was given the task of conducting a review of case histories regarding disaster waste treatment related to the recovery work from the 2011 disaster. This review has been designed for municipal governments to utilize in the event of future catastrophic disasters. It is a systematic review of the circumstances and given conditions, treatment processes, criteria for accepting incineration plants, cement manufacturing, etc., and also includes experiential information on separation systems and equipment based on information provided by member companies of the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors, who were all engaged in disaster waste treatment projects during this disaster. A summary of this review is presented in this manuscript.
