Abashiri City is a town of 32,000 people on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Hokkaido. It is surrounded by beautiful nature in every season, and is famous for the drift ice that reaches its shore in winter. Many tourists visit places such as Abashiri Prison Museum and the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum. There are lakes such as Lake Abashiri and Lake Notoro, and wide fields and pastures outside the town. Fishing and farming that make use of this rich nature are active. Even in Abashiri, with all its nature, waste is a problem. We spoke with two staff members of the Abashiri City Living Environment Division about why they chose Pirika for Governments and their plans for the future.

1. Abashiri’s waste problems and “Nogomi-chan”

— We heard that waste is a serious problem in Abashiri. What is the situation?

To fight littering, we put up signs against illegal dumping and installed security cameras, but they were not very effective.
Also, the city has no incinerator, so waste that cannot be recycled goes to landfill. But we learned that the landfill is now expected to fill up much sooner than planned. To make it last longer, we must reduce landfill waste. For that, residents’ help is essential.

— What did you do to get residents’ help?

We thought waste would go down if residents became interested in it. We wanted people to know that waste does not end at the collection point, and to learn how it is handled after that. So we first started the “Abashiri Waste Newsletter.” It focuses on items that are easy to sort wrongly or hard to understand, which we think helps people understand. Our character “Nogomi-chan” also plays a big part in it.

— What kind of character is Nogomi-chan?

The name comes from “No Gomi” (“no waste”). Nogomi-chan is our character for promoting waste reduction. A staff member who joined us right after graduating draws the character, and new friend characters keep appearing. Our division shares ideas and makes novelty goods too. Nogomi-chan goods are very popular, and people say they are “cute.” We also planned a campaign where people could get Nogomi-chan goods by posting on the Pirika App.

Through the characters, not only adults but also children seem to learn in a fun and natural way, for example that food waste can become compost, and that bulky waste needs to be crushed. We think education from an early age is important in whether people litter or not.

2. Better than signs? Showing people picking up litter, and supporting each other

— You have tried many ideas to reduce waste and littering. Why did you adopt the Pirika for Governments visualization page?

For the newsletter, we interviewed a volunteer group that cleans up every month. They told us that just being seen picking up litter helps prevent littering, and that people do not litter in clean places. We thought, “This might work better than signs!”
Also, our only contact with volunteers was when they came to city hall to get volunteer garbage bags. We had no way of knowing how much or where they picked up after that. With the Pirika for Governments visualization page, we can see the litter people pick up and thank those who cleaned. We thought this could be a new way to prevent littering.

After opening the visualization page, we found that Pirikers* are more passionate about litter picking than we expected. At first we were worried. Would anyone really pick up litter? Would their numbers grow? But in their posts, we can feel their passion: “There is less litter around me now,” and “I want to pick up more.”

I have also been posting for six months now. Just picking up litter every day would not have lasted. But when I post on Pirika, people across Japan send me a “thank you”* and comments. I feel I am not alone, and I want to do it again. The Pirika App is a really good app. We want the city and the Pirikers who post to connect and support each other in the same way.
Also, the visualization page shows individuals, companies and groups that are working hard, and some people look forward to the rankings. It is also easy to understand when we introduce it to groups in the city, which helps us a lot.

* “Pirikers” is a nickname for users who pick up litter with the Pirika App.
* A “thank you” is a reaction, like a “like,” that users can send each other on litter-picking posts in the Pirika App.

3. Our hopes spread together with residents and Pirikers

— Is there anything you want to try next?

Yes! First, we want to use Pirika’s Takanome to survey where there is more litter, and share the results. We also want to give Pirikers in the city information such as “We will put a trash bin here during this period.”
We would also like to meet Pirikers from across Japan. A Piriker from outside the city once praised us in a comment on the Pirika App: “The day Abashiri becomes a Pirika hotspot is near.” That made us very happy. We really want to make it happen! We would love to invite Pirikers from across Japan and hold a litter-picking event in Abashiri.

Hokkaido is large, so each local government covers a very large area. Even so, a local government can keep its town clean by working with residents. It would be wonderful if this kind of effort spread beyond one city across Hokkaido, starting from Abashiri.

About four months after we started, total participation on our Pirika for Governments visualization page (counting repeat participants) passed 2,000. More people now take part regularly, so we are always working with about 100 people. We are confident that Pirika will bring us closer to our ideal: people see others picking up litter, the town gets cleaner, and people learn not to litter.

Abashiri City visualization page: here

More about Pirika for Governments: here