The government for the first time on Tuesday set a specific target for reducing the mountains of waste the country produces each year.
By 2010, it hopes to halve the amount of municipal and industrial waste that is dumped. It hopes to achieve the goal through increased recycling and other measures.
Japan is home to the overwhelming majority of the world's incinerators and is emitting a significant amount of dioxin, which is forcing the government to address the waste issue.