The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has launched an innovative initiative to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge for use as a raw material for agricultural fertilizer.
Previously, phosphorus was disposed of in landfills due to concerns over its suspected role in causing red tides. In a policy shift, however, the metropolitan government has decided to repurpose the chemical element, recognizing it as an underutilized resource with potentially valuable applications in agriculture.
In cooperation with the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, or Zen-Noh, the Tokyo government aims to distribute nationwide fertilizers made from recovered phosphorus.