No. 34 Milestone Year for Waste Disposal Business

(Published in the August 15, 2014 issue of Koho Inagi)

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Tamagawa Sanitation Association and the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Yatosawa disposal site.
The Tamagawa Sanitation Association was established in September 1963 by Komae Town and Tama Village for waste incineration, and in August of the following year, Inagi Town joined and was renamed the Tamagawa Sanitation Association. That's the beginning.
In August 1962, Inagi Town and Tama Town established the "Inagi-Tama Sanitation Association" for human waste treatment, and in April 1971, Komae Town joined and became the "Inagi-Tama-Komae Sanitation Association." The name will be changed. As a result, both the garbage incineration and human waste disposal unions were made up of the same organization, so the two unions were merged and became the new Tamagawa Sanitation Union.
Later, in March 1993, Tama City withdrew due to the construction of a new factory in the Tama New Town area, and in April of the same year, Fuchu City partially joined (the area south of Koshu Kaido), and in 1998. The current new factory began operations in April. In April 1999, Kunitachi City joined, and in April 2007, Fuchu City joined the entire area (area north of Koshu Kaido), which continues to this day.
On the other hand, incineration ash generated from garbage incineration is disposed of by the Tokyo Tama Wide Area Resource Recycling Association, which is made up of 25 cities and one town in the Tama area, and Inagi City is also a member.
Until around the early 1950s, raw garbage in the Tama area was in demand by pig farmers, and incineration ash was disposed of by burying it within the respective city limits. However, since the period of high economic growth, the amount of waste has rapidly increased along with rapid growth in population and personal consumption, making it difficult for each city to dispose of it properly.
In July 1970, the ``Waste Final Disposal Measures Council'' was organized and held long-term discussions on the establishment, maintenance and management of final disposal sites for general waste, and in November 1981, the ``Tokyo Mitama Area'' The Yatosawa Disposal Site in Hinode Town was completed and began operation in April 1981.
Landfilling of this final disposal site was completed in April 1998, and now, 30 years after its opening, a biotope has been installed, and the site is gradually returning to its former natural environment while preserving flora and fauna.
In April 2006, we started an ecocement business to shift from simply disposing of waste to landfills to further resource recycling, and the name was changed to the Tokyo Tama Wide Area Resource Recycling Association.
I heard that Hinode Town had to go through a lot of trouble in accepting the final disposal site. Once again, I feel a responsibility to not let this fact fade and to pass it on to the future.
Additionally, the Tamagawa Sanitation Association had a number of accidents between 2010 and 2010, causing concern and inconvenience to the citizens of the four constituent cities and Hinode Town. We have established an Accident Recurrence Prevention Promotion Committee and are working to restore trust while implementing improvements across the entire factory operations.
Garbage, once a topic to be avoided, has now become a central issue in environmental administration. In order to maintain the beautiful Tama region into the future, let's all continue to promote waste reduction and recycling while learning from the wisdom and efforts of our predecessors.