Household Waste Reduction Effect of Sorted Collection of Recyclable Waste in Japan

The purpose of this study is to analyze the household waste reduction effect of sorted collection of recyclable waste in Japan using a panel data analysis, which considers time-series and cross-section data simultaneously. Also, the study shows the effect of the type of sorted items on the quantity of household waste disposed. We used the data attained from 103 cities recorded over three years, and applied the quantity of total waste disposed, the quantity of combustible waste, the quantity of other waste (waste excluding combustible and recyclable waste), and the quantity of combustible plus other waste as objective variables, respectively, in the models. The result suggests that when the number of sorted items is increased marginally, the quantity of household waste decreases by about 0.5%-3.3% or 1.28-4.17 grams per capita per day. In addition, it is shown that sorting out white trays is effective in reducing the quantity of combustible waste. Sorting out paper containers and packages is also effective in reducing the quantity of other waste and combustible plus other waste.