People turn food waste into compost

Built from scrap material salvaged from demolished buildings, Kamikatsu’s Rise & Win Brewing Co. is literally a monument to sustainability. Its eye-catching facade, made from discarded windows, is a gorgeous piece of design, too.

Customers can bring their own bottles to fill up with Rise & ...

Located on the island of Shikoku and surrounded by lush nature, Kamikatsu in Tokushima prefecture is a small town with a big ambition: it plans to reuse and recycle all of its waste by the end of 2020. The first initiatives started in the early ’90s, which paved ...

Kamikatsu’s Zero Waste Academy is a non-profit organisation established to promote the town’s 2003 Zero Waste Declaration. It also provides advice on how to modify social systems and habits in order to eliminate waste. For example, the academy encourages manufacturers to consider implementing a r...

Kamikatsu residents are encouraged to separate their garbage into a whopping 45 categories, including one for metal caps, one for diapers and sanitary napkins, and another for mirrors and thermometers, to aid recycling. The town also recommends residents to either avoid using disposable items or ...

Showing sustainability really is a team effort: two dozen local artisans work to upcycle old kimono, fabrics and koinobori fish-shaped streamers (like the ones that fly on Children’s Day, May 5) into bags, jackets, soft toys and other goods. At the Kuru-kuru Craft Center, you can buy the...