India, Dec. 26 -- Japan's first municipality to make a 'zero waste declaration', the Shikoku town is well on its way to becoming fully zero-waste by 2020

Kamikatsu, a small town situated approximately 40 kilometres from Tokushima city in the mountains of Shikoku island in Japan, is fast moving towards becoming the country's first fully zero-waste habitation by next year.

The town was the first municipality in the country to make a 'Zero Waste Declaration' way back in 2003. However, its journey towards becoming free of waste started even earlier.

The city encouraged residents to recycle and reuse their waste, not to purchase or use products that might end up as waste, and requested manufacturers to produce products that could easily and...