On Sept. 25, the Aichi Expo 2005 rang down the curtain. The venues that had attracted 22,050,000 visitors became quiet and disassembly and removal work started immediately.

Constructing a "Circular Society" had been set as one of the minor themes of the Aichi Expo. It is also one of the solutions put in place for environmental protection. As soon as the construction work started to build the venues, the "3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) Measures" was established as the guiding rule for the work.

If we make a comparison of the two methods: Recycle and Reuse, we'll find that the latter is better than the former in that it poses less of a burden on the natural environment. But the real situation is that a dramatic advancement has been achieved in recycling concrete lumps and other construction materials produced from pulling down buildings, however, in contrast, little progress has been made in reusing construction materials. Accordingly, various methods have been tried in the disassembly and removal work of the Aichi Expo venues.

A special website was made publicly available on Sept. 16 to facilitate the reuse of materials collected from two sites: Nagakute and Seto.

On these websites, all materials available for reuse are divided into five categories: construction materials, electric equipment, air conditioners and sanitation, display materials, and other materials and lifts. Lists of all materials are publicized so that people can participate in the auction via e-mails.

The reason that the materials in the Nagakute area can be reused is that the construction of this site was carried out based on the premise that these materials should be available for reuse after disassembly. For instance, such a measure as presetting IC electronic labels into part of the materials planned for reuse in order to collect information helpful for estimating their remaining value has been taken. In a sense, this exposition site is also a field for experimentation on promoting reuse.

Various valuable experiments are also being carried out in other venues. The Toyota site was built based on the premise of "Zero Waste". For example, a new method of jointing reinforcing steel bars was used. Drilling holes on the bars as usual means that it would be difficult for these bars to be reused. Therefore, a newly developed method of rubbing and jointing was adopted to avoid hole drilling as much as possible. This novel method involves screwing the two connecting metal sheets tightly by using screw bolts to clamp the steel bars so as to form a supporting frame. The Seto area was composed of permanent facilities and temporary ones. The permanent ones will be used as "Forest for Study and Communications in Satoyama". The timber used for temporary facilities has already been returned to the Forest Association in Toyota City in Aichi County where it had been rented. The timber will be processed and reused to make floorboards and handrails in some newly built small schools in Toyota City.

Different kinds of articles used in the Aichi Expo will be reused efficiently. Almost all things used in the Expo, including the computer systems, medical equipment and wheelchairs, as determined by the Japan Association for the 2005 World Expositions BIE, would be disposed of in forms of a voluntary transfer to public causes and a monetary transfer to non-public causes. It is believed that some items have been reserved through questionaires already. The "Morizo and Kiccoro" cable cars that have carried many guests will take up their mission of carrying guests in other places. Advertising of other goods has occurred on the homepage of the Aichi Expo since Sept. 25 to invite offers to take them over.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is not until the disassembly and removal work and the implementation of the "3R Measures" have been successfully carried out that the Aichi Expo has really drawn the curtain. The realization of the "3R Measures" marks a perfect completion for the Aichi Expo.

Notes to the photos:
1. Material from the disassembly will be reused efficiently.
2. The "Global Loop" will be removed and reused.