Zero waste town Kamikatsu Tokushima Japan

With a population of 1,500 people, this little town made a Declaration of Zero Waste 18 years ago.

They compost their own kitchen waste and the rest of their trash is divided into 45 categories to turn back into resources and sell. And the revenue goes back to their town as a contribution. Amazing teamwork with local workers and residents made this possible.

With architect Hiroshi Nakamura they built a very cool “?” shaped facility called Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center Why which accommodates the recycling division space, a free thrift shop, a community space and even hotels. And the building materials were all produced locally. Residents' old windows, doors and chest drawers and a wide variety of other second hand stuff. The family memories stay in their community gathering space, making it feel like each material has meaning.

I would love to visit there. The place where you will rethink what “trash” means to you.