Short biography

Kosuke Kawai is a researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan, specializing in waste management and material cycles. Experienced in both academic research and policy-oriented projects addressing waste reduction, recycling systems, and life cycle assessment (LCA) in Japan and internationally. His research focuses on the quantitative and qualitative changes in municipal solid waste, particularly in the context of depopulation and aging societies. He is involved in international standardization in solid recovered materials (ISO/TC 300) and participates in various activities in developing countries as an advisor to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He contributed to the publication of the Waste Wise Cities Tool (WaCT) by UN-HABITAT, which supports the monitoring of SDG indicator 11.6.1.

Research areas

Circular economy
Life cycle assessment
Material flow analysis
Municipal solid waste management
Food waste
Source separation
Informal sector in developing countries

Publications

He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers