Treatment of disaster waste generated by the Great East Japan Earthquake-Treatment of disaster waste by member corporations of the Japan Federation of Construction Contractors

Abstract

As a result of The Great East Japan Earthquake, approximately 28 million tons of disaster wastes (such as disaster debris and tsunami deposits) were generated in the three prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima, mainly due to the tsunami. The waste treatment on this massive scale would normally take more than a decade. For the local recovery and reconstruction, disaster waste treatment was the first step, and its early treatment was essential. Two months after the disaster, the government prepared a master plan for completing the treatment by the end of March 2014, approximately three years after the earthquake, focusing on recycling of the waste. Due to the enormous amount of waste and its complicated physical properties, disaster waste treatment posed a number of problems. However, the construction industry and related parties worked on the task with a sense of mission, completing the treatment in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures by the end of March 2014, as specified by the national government, and achieving a recycling ratio of nearly 90% based on thorough recycling and reuse. Materials recycled through treatment were used for embankment and backfilling, etc. in public reconstruction projects.