A small community in Eastern Japan have turned their town, Kamikatsu, into a Zero Waste Zone.

In short, this one town has achieved what people have been discussing for years, and eliminated waste from their lives. Everything is recycled, re-used or naturally returned to the earth.

Considering that every day we hear more about the damage humanity has on the planet, complete with heartbreaking tales of drowning polar bears, I think this is a wonderful example of the good people can achieve with a little bit of effort.

And, beyond the moralising, this story is incredibly inspiring, as one tiny area in rural Japan becomes, as the BBC put it, the “world leader” in one of the world’s most important issues. 

Will the rest of the world follow suit? I severely doubt it. But at least we can say that someone in the world has stopped tutting about pollution and instead made an effort to eliminate it.