waste in japan good info.

As for the burnables: the trucks dump their loads of trash into chutes that lead to one of three gigantic concrete waste pits (15,000m3). An equally gigantic claw then grabs about six truck's worth of trash and drops it into the incinerator. The resulting ash goes through a process that converts it into a non-toxic sand-like material then used for paving city roads. The incinerator heat is used to create enough electricity to run the entire plant's operation, with the leftover sold back to the city (32,000kw). Finally, the smoke seems to be treated pretty thoroughly, using such things as a bagfilter, heated dechlorination system, wet gas scrubber, gas reheater, and a selective catalyst reactor before they let it out the smoke stack. As I said, a lot of "meaningless" facts to the uneducated waster, but since I was told that Japan has some of the strictest pollution regulations in the world, I was happy to learn that this plant exceeded all of them.
All garbage smell is kept inside the waste pits and dumping docks, with virtually no smell leaking to the outside. All other areas inside the building are more or less air tight, a fact I found just amazing. But as I look back at the picture of the spotless control room I now notice that the workers there were all wearing slippers (!) so that the carpeted floors would stay free from dirt and grime that would be tracked in by their shoes

1. Decrease the amount of waste as far as possible (Reduce)
2. Use over and over as far as possible (Reuse)
3. When items cannot be reused, use them as raw material (Recycle)
4. Even when waste materials are incinerated, use the heat generated by incineration for power generation (thermal recycling)
5. In case none of the above is possible, dispose of waste material in an appropriate manner

http://www.newcolonist.com/osaka_waste.html