Ever wonder what happened to the mountains of rubble

[Art_from_Ark]

that were produced by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan? Of course, there have been reports of Japanese rubble washing up on American shores, but what about the massive amounts of rubble that remained on land?

For example, it was estimated that the amount of rubble produced in Miyagi Prefecture was equivalent to 26 years worth of garbage for the prefecture! The total amount from all disaster areas that could not be handled in either Miyagi or Iwate prefectures (Ground Zero for the tsunami) was originally estimated to be 2.5 million metric tons, although it was later revised down to 1 million tons. Still, that's a lot of garbage. According to various Japanese news sources, the stuff that can be burned is being sent to incinerators around the country, including the cities of Kitakyushu, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Of course, there is some controversy about this, including concerns about radiation and toxic chemicals.

Article in Japanese: http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20120620k0000e040236000c.html

[Warpy]

1. Some of it will be landfill, maybe even creating new barriers

against future tsunamis. Some might be put offshore as an artificial reef. Some will be thrown into sanitary landfills.

There is a huge amount of rubbish heading toward the west coast and it will probably keep washing up for years.

[Tx4obama]

2. Here's a DU OP that was posted tonight, you might find it interesting

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002831527