The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 resulted in the generation of a huge amount of disaster waste, overwhelmingly due to the tsunami rather than ground motion. Moreover, since earlier tsunamis never caused deposits in such large amounts, Japan had no prior experience with tsunami related disaster waste handling. In March 2011, the government of Miyagi Prefecture established the Basic Policy for Disaster Waste Treatment and proceeded with recycling of the various wastes by classifying, crushing, etc. This operation was based on the Guidelines for Disaster Waste Treatment and the Execution Plan for Disaster Waste Treatment in Miyagi Prefecture. At the same time, Miyagi Prefecture announced their estimated amount of total disaster waste. What is the reason for this situation? How should disaster waste be treated? This paper discusses the issues surrounding waste and presents the current status of operations taking place, as well as to describe possible future directions. The paper also reconfirms the ground situation immediately following the earthquake in the damaged areas.

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Almost two years have been passed since Japan faced the many criticalities brought on by the Great East Japan Earthquake. During this time, although much discussion on restoration, post-disaster reconstruction, etc. has taken place, there are still many areas that have yet to be incorporated into the dialogue.
The media tends to be publicizing the delay in properly disposing of the earthquake/tsunami debris by making comparisons to clean-ups after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. On the other hand, the need to process all the debris by March, 2015 has created an extremely severe situation for Japan.
Based on these viewpoints, this report looks into the present conditions, including problems related to disposal techniques for disaster debris and its effective utilization (recycling).

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Vast amounts of various disaster wastes are generated due to the occurrence of earthquakes and typhoons. Prompt handling and treating of such wastes in the appropriate way, immediately following the disaster, is of utmost importance. To carry out such treatment, it is necessary to undertake a pretreatment process by crushing and/or separating of the wastes. This paper introduces our crushing and separating facilities for pretreatment of waste using case examples from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

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The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on 11 March, 2011 created the greatest load of disaster-related wastes ever known to Japan. Since the tsunami damage was especially serious, there are not only disaster-related wastes, but also tsunami deposits that need to be disposed of. A joint-venture group consisting of 9 companies, including Kajima Corporation, contracted to dispose of about 3.12 million tons of disaster-related wastes and about 0.29 million tons of tsunami deposit in the Ishinomaki Area (Ishinomaki City, Higashi-matsushima City, Onagawa Town).
After construction of intermediate plants at a second-stage temporary yard in Ishinomaki, the operation has crushed, separated, washed and incinerated the various types of waste. Almost all plants started from September 2012 after some of them did on May 2012. This paper reports the current situation of disposal of disaster-related wastes in Ishinomaki Area and the challenge found by the progress.

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In its wake, the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit on 11 March 2012 left 536,000 tons of post-disaster debris and 500,000 m³ of tsunami sediment in the town of Watari in Japan′s Miyagi Prefecture. Based on government policy stating that all waste is required to be disposed of within three years of the disaster, waste disposal servicing here must be completed by the end of March, 2014. In addition, landfill volumes must be kept to a minimum. This further requires special recycling service throughout the disposal process. This report gives an overview of the disposal flow and disaster waste separation treatment facilities that have been implemented to bring about successful improvements from the design stage to the disposal stage.

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Treatment of disaster-related waste has advanced in the areas where the Great East Japan Earthquake struck just one year and seven months ago. JFE Engineering Corporation, a municipal waste incineration plant manufacturer, started its treatment plan using a temporary incinerator immediately following the disaster even when the local situation regarding how much damage there was had not yet become clear.
In order to properly process disaster waste that was even more complicated due to the influence of the tsunami that followed, it was clear that the process of pretreatments (i.e. shredding and sorting) was as important, if not more important, as thermal disposal during the treatment planning and actual processing.
In addition, due to tight landfill disposal restrictions, this task was very different from conventional disaster waste treatment, as maximization of recycling was required.
This paper reports on the eastern block of Miyagi. It gives various examples for thermal disposal of disaster-related waste, measures to be employed, the present operation situation, and also reproduction processing of incineration ash currently being planned.

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About 240,000 tons of bulky wood debris, including objects such as posts and beams from houses destroyed in the tsunami disaster, has been accumulated along the coastal area of Iwate Prefecture. Because they are of a higher quality than other wood waste materials which are thin and less durable, these wood materials are expected to be used for biomass fuel as well as raw material for the manufacturing of particle board. By the end of August 2012, approximately 30,000 tons of wood debris had been incinerated, recycled into fuel for cement production or used as the raw material for making particle board, along with other uses. About one-fifth of all the wood wastes were recycled into a kind of particle board known as hukko-board.
Following the tsunami, some members of Iwate University and Iwate Prefectural University initiated activities to support the manufacture and utilization of hukko-board soon. In this paper, the progress of such activities to support this type of re-use is introduced. Also, the paper discusses the utilization of hukko-board as a structural element of housing for tsunami victims.

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Rare metals are materials essential to the production of cars and IT products, and are the cornerstone of Japan′s industrial competitive strength. There exists a constant risk of violent fluctuations in supply physical stability and cost due to scarcity, uneven distribution, export policies and political conditions in producer countries. Considering such conditions, there must now be a focus on the ever-growing amount of products being discarded, which contain rare metals. At this current stage, it is necessary to steadily promote methods that guarantee these resources are recycled. This can be done by responding with strategies that address the various challenges surrounding collection of discarded goods and more efficient recycling technologies that begins from this current stage. In this direction, the Industrial Structure Council and the Central Environment Council conducted a joint meeting in November 2011, where they investigated the issues related to rare metal recycling and countermeasures to be taken targeting cross-sectionally all the principal products containing rare metals. In September 2012, an interim analysis was presented. This paper introduces the details of this report.

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