Japan: recycling rate of waste

Recycling rate of the total waste generated in Japan from fiscal year 2014 to 2023

Characteristic	Recycling rate
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Release date

March 2025

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Region

Japan

Survey time period

fiscal year 2014 to 2023; the Japanese fiscal year starts on April 1 of the stated year and ends on March 31 of the following year

Supplementary notes

Recycling rate= (directly recycled waste + waste recycled after intermediate treatment + recyclable waste collected in community groups) / (total amount of waste collected by municipalities+ total amount of waste collected in community groups) x 100

Citation formats

In fiscal year 2023, the recycling rate of the total waste that was generated in Japan stood at almost **** percent, down from **** percent in fiscal year 2014. represented the majority of the generated waste in Japan.

Waste management

Most of the waste collected in Japan is processed in incineration or recycling facilities or disposed of at landfills. With an incineration rate of municipal waste of over 70 percent, incineration is the most widely used method, as it can easily reduce the volume of waste. Despite the decreasing amount of municipal waste disposed at landfills in recent years, Japan is facing a shortage of landfill sites as the remaining capacity of landfill sites for final waste disposal is shrinking.

Waste recycling

In Japan, waste is usually sorted into categories by citizens before it is collected and is not picked up if the strict waste separation rules are not followed. Plastic, paper, PET bottles, aluminum, and glass are collected separately to be recycled. Since 2004, the Japanese government promotes the so called 3R initiative, which encourages businesses and citizens to focus on the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling waste. While the rate of recycled plastic waste increased up to over 85 percent, the recycling rate of Japan's total waste remains one of the lowest among industrialized countries.