A group of delegates came back to Chelyabinsk Region from Japan where they were looking into the ways of setting up a joint venture on industrial and consumption waste recycling.

Chelyabinsk Region has been cooperating with Japan since 2005, mostly in the field of slag processing and production control. The new venture is expected to result in a set of waste-recycling enterprises and in a better environment in the region.

The project is supervised by First Deputy Governor Yuri Klepov, who also chaired the delegation to Japan. While in Japan, the regional officials visited the premises of a large steel-manufacturing plant and the ranges where urban ore is recycled. Remarkably, the Japanese manage to turn these ranges into golf courses within a month of completing the recycling procedures. There are 1,318 waste recycling plants per Japan’s 2,000 cities, and these plants are often located right downtown. Waste-burning is also a valuable energy source, so Chelyabinsk Region is planning to buy this technology from the Japanese experts for $200m.

The spokesperson for the Governor reports the delegation members are to come up with a detailed report that will lay the foundation for creating the waste-recycling enterprises. The Japanese experts will come to the region eight times this year to assist in the development of the project.