Kubota has launched an initiative to realize a “Circular Economy Promotion Hub” that will recycle and utilize all general waste generated in local communities on a prefecture-wide scale. The company aims to build a new system that separates food waste and plastic waste from combustible waste and combines them with melting and separation technology to circulate them as resources.
Kubota has begun building a resource circulation system that transforms the conventional waste treatment process, with the aim of realizing a “Circular Economy Promotion Hub” concept that recycles and utilizes all general waste from local communities on a prefecture-wide scale. The system is intended to separate food waste and plastic waste from combustible waste and process them using the melting and separation technology developed and provided by Kubota, recovering slag and valuable metals from incineration ash, using plastic as recycled material, residues as fuel, and food waste as a raw material for bioenergy or compost.
Following the project's selection for the Ministry of the Environment's “Resource Circulation Acceleration Project for Thorough Utilization of Local Resources,” Kubota will conduct a pilot test, with the cooperation of Yokohama City, to verify whether food waste can be placed in dedicated bags and collected together with other combustible waste. It will also survey the composition and characteristics of combustible waste, consider a regional model and prepare a roadmap, and interview companies that demand recycled resources and manufacturers of sorting equipment.