Recycling plant in Japan's Kansai becomes tourist destination (3)

They can also learn how wood chips made from tree trimmings regularly collected from the cities are utilized.

Iino said it is now compulsory for all fourth-grade students at elementary schools in the two cities to join a social studies program in which they visit the recycling center and watch processing methods for collected garbage. This is to enhance their knowledge of recycling and reducing waste.

Iino added that the number of visitors usually goes up during the holidays when children accompanied by parents and families visit before or after shopping. He also said the recycling center has collaborated with a travel magazine publisher to introduce the waste management facility as a new tourist destination in Kansai.

Ahead of "Golden Week," one of the longest vacation periods of the year for many Japanese workers that starts this weekend, the new challenge for the center is to attract more people to visit the facility and help save the Earth.