Itabashi, one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, is currently engaged in a glass recycling programme in partnership with a wide range of private enterprises which aims to open up new markets using useful products made from discarded glass. The programme involves the local authority providing glass bottles to a manufacturer, who then processes them into fine cullet (step 1), then after a process of further polishing (step 2) another manufacturer uses the cullet to make products such as pavement or building blocks. The local authority then uses these products in public works, thereby achieving a cyclical flow of resources.
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