Research & reports

George Gigounas, Kristy Balsanek, Meaghan Colligan Hembree, Felicia Isaac, Jesse Medlong · DLA Piper · United States

A DLA Piper analysis of California's SB 54 extended producer responsibility (EPR) program plan, projecting $9.3–$17.2 billion in costs over five years (2027–2031) with annual producer billing starting in 2027. Plastic reduction targets are 10% (2027), 20% (2030), and 25% (2032), with recycling-rate targets of 30% (2028), 40% (2030), and 65% (2032).

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 大臣官房 新事業・食品産業部 外食・食文化課 · Japan

A portal page from Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) that links to yearly estimates (from FY2008 onward) of annual food waste generation and food recycling implementation rates. It explains the estimation method — combining mandatory reports from businesses generating 100+ tonnes/year with estimates for smaller businesses — and links to each fiscal year's detailed PDF or e-Stat data.

環境省 · 環境省 環境再生・資源循環局 廃棄物適正処理推進課 · Japan

Japan's Ministry of the Environment survey results, published March 27, 2026, on FY2024 nationwide municipal solid waste generation and disposal. Total waste generation was 38.11 million tonnes (down 2.2% year on year), the recycling rate was 19.3%, and final disposal volume was 3.06 million tonnes. The number of incineration facilities fell to 991, while those with power generation equipment rose to 415, generating 10,448 GWh in total.

Scott Etkin · West Side Rag · United States

NYC's Department of Sanitation resumed mandatory composting enforcement in January 2026 after a pause. The Upper West Side shows a 13.5% capture rate as of spring 2025, above the citywide rate of about 10%, with monthly collected tonnage rising from 129 tons (Oct. 2024) to over 318 tons (Dec. 2025); 414 summonses had been issued through Feb. 10, 2026.

US Environmental Protection Agency · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

In 2009, there were approximately 1,908 municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs) in the continental United States, managed by the states under RCRA Subtitle D. Federal criteria (40 CFR Part 258) set requirements including location restrictions and leachate management.

国税庁 · 国税庁 · Japan

For inheritance and gift tax purposes, Japan's National Tax Agency values 'productive green space' land as the ordinary land valuation minus a set discount rate. For productive green space not yet eligible for a buy-back request, the discount rises with the time remaining until eligibility — from 10% at five years or less up to 35% for more than 25 up to 30 years. Land that has already had a buy-back request submitted, or is eligible to, gets a flat 5% discount.

HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK) · GOV.UK / HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) · United Kingdom

The UK's Agricultural Relief lets qualifying agricultural property — farmland, pasture, stud farms, farmhouses and cottages among others — pass free, or partly free, of Inheritance Tax. Owner-occupied land (or occupied by a spouse/civil partner) must be held for 2 years, land let to others for 7 years, to qualify. Relief is 100% where the owner farmed the land themselves or it is let on a tenancy starting after 1 September 1995, and 50% in other qualifying cases. For deaths on or after 6 April 2026, the combined 100% Agricultural Relief and Business Relief allowed against an estate is capped at £2.5 million, with any excess receiving 50% relief instead.

国土交通省都市局 · 国土交通省 都市局 都市計画課・公園緑地・景観課 · Japan

MLIT's Urban Bureau guide (April 2026 edition) explains the Productive Green Zone and Special Productive Green Zone systems and the municipal designation procedure. Productive Green Zones require at least 500 m² of urbanization-area farmland (reducible to 300 m² by local ordinance); as of 31 December 2025, 52,955 zones covering 10,613 ha were designated nationwide. Special Productive Green Zone designation must occur before the 30-year mark from the original zoning notice; once designated, the earliest date an owner can request a buyout is deferred by 10 years, renewable repeatedly with owner consent. In the three major metropolitan areas, parcels not redesignated shift to residential-land property taxation via a phased relief schedule (0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8 of the tax base increase in years one through four).

東京都都市整備局 · 東京都都市整備局 · Japan

This official page from the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Urban Development (last updated May 26, 2026) explains Tokyo's productive green zone (seisan ryokuchi) system: designation requires a plot of at least 500 sqm (reducible to 300 sqm by municipal ordinance, with contiguous plots eligible if each is at least 100 sqm), imposes a 30-year farming obligation, and grants tax benefits (agricultural-rate property tax and inheritance tax deferral). It also explains that because zones designated in 1992 under the revised law reached the 30-year mark in 2022, the "specified productive green zone" system (created by a 2017 law amendment) allows landowners to extend the tax benefits and buyback-request window by another 10 years.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

This Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) page is an index of PowerPoint-format reference materials on Japan's city planning system, organized by topic — planning law and structure, land-use planning (including the urbanization-promotion/control-area division and district plans), urban facility planning, urban greening (including farmland conservation), development permits, and location optimization. Details of specific systems, including the urbanization area/control area division, reside in the linked documents rather than on the page itself.

国土交通省 · 国土交通省 · Japan

This MLIT page indexes data resources on urban farmland in Japan — current farmland area (including area within urbanization-promotion zones and productive green space), the list of designated cities in the three major metropolitan areas subject to special urban farmland rules, the status of productive-green-space designations, area trends over time, and designation status of 'specified' productive green space, most updated as of end-December Reiwa 7 (2025). The specific figures themselves reside in the linked source documents, not on this index page.

Montgomery Planning (Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission) · Montgomery Planning · United States

Montgomery Planning's overview of the Agricultural Reserve, created in 1980 by Montgomery County Council action and covering 93,000 acres — nearly a third of the county's land. The Reserve combines dedicated agricultural zoning (limiting residential density to one unit per 25 acres in the AR zone), a transfer of development rights (TDR) program, and a Building Lot Termination (BLT) easement program to prevent farmland fragmentation, sustaining more than 500 farms.

Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) · State of Oregon, Department of Land Conservation and Development · United States

Oregon's state land-use agency page explaining the state's farmland protection framework. Statewide Planning Goal 3, established under Senate Bill 100, defines agricultural land based on soil capability, and all 36 counties apply Exclusive Farm Use (EFU) zoning, with minimum lot sizes typically 80 acres for cropland and 160 acres for rangeland. As of 2015, Oregon's farmland totaled 16.3 million acres (over 26% of the state), with the farm economy valued at $5.7 billion, about 11% of the state economy, supporting more than 326,000 jobs.

Neighborhood Gardens Trust · Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT) · United States

Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), a Philadelphia nonprofit, is a land trust that makes community garden land tenure permanent. It has preserved 53 community gardens so far and aims to protect a total of 80 by 2027. Preserved gardens range from single house lots up to 3.7 acres, the largest, and vary from food-producing plots to flower and sitting gardens. NGT covers ongoing liability insurance, real estate taxes, and capital improvements (with support from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society), while local gardeners keep managing the day-to-day.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 農村振興局農村政策部農村計画課都市農業室 · Japan

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) organizes urban agriculture's roles into six functions: fresh produce supply, farming-experience/exchange opportunities, disaster-prevention open space, green/landscape space, national land and environmental conservation, and food/agricultural education. In a survey of urban residents, about 50% recognized urban farms' role in supplying fresh produce and about 60% expressed interest in buying local produce, while only about 30% saw urban farms as a place for farming experience or exchange. 'Disaster cooperation farmland' — an arrangement re-recognized after the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake — involves municipalities signing voluntary agreements with farmers to use urban farmland as evacuation space or temporary-housing sites during disasters.

· Wikipedia (English) · Spain

According to English Wikipedia, the Water Tribunal of the Plain of Valencia was founded during the reigns of the Caliphs Abd-ar-Rahman III and Al-Hakam II, in 960 CE, as an institution of justice to settle disputes over irrigation water. It is made up of one representative (síndic) from each of nine Irrigation Communities, one of whom serves a two-year term as president. It meets every Thursday at Casa Vestidor on Plaça de la Mare de Déu in Valencia, and in 2009 was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage alongside the Council of Wise Men of the plain of Murcia.

· Wikipedia (español) · Spain

A Wikipedia article on the Huerta de Valencia, the historic agricultural belt surrounding the city of Valencia. Origins trace to Roman settlement, but the irrigation infrastructure that shaped the current landscape was developed during the Al-Andalus (Islamic) period. Nine major irrigation canals (acequias), including Quart and Mestalla, are governed by the Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia, inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

· Wikipedia (English) · Spain

An English-language Wikipedia article on the Horta of Valencia, the historic agricultural area surrounding metropolitan Valencia, covering 631.9 km2 with a 2019 population of 1,567,118. Its traditional Arab-era irrigation system was designated a FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) in 2019 as the 'Historical Waterscape of l'Horta de Valencia.'

· Wikipedia (italiano) · Italy

An Italian Wikipedia article on Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, established on 23 April 1990 under Lombardy regional law (LR 24), covering 46,300 hectares across roughly 60 municipalities. More than 1,400 farms operate within the park, with cereals accounting for 43% of cultivation, rice 22%, and forage 16%. Forty-one traditional irrigated meadows (marcite) are protected within the park, alongside native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, plus reported invasive species such as nutria.

· Viquipèdia (Catalan Wikipedia) · Spain

The Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat is a protected agricultural area (about 3,473 ha, with 2,938 ha designated as farmland) in the Llobregat river delta within the Barcelona metropolitan region, managed by a consortium established in 1998. Vegetables account for 63% of crops, with fruit trees making up most of the rest. Spanning 14 municipalities, it functions as an institutional framework preserving agricultural landscape and wetland ecosystems amid urban expansion.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · United States

This EPA page explains that green roofs can lower surface temperatures by up to 56°F, nearby air temperatures by up to 20°F, and indoor air temperatures by 27°F compared to conventional roofs, while cutting cooling loads by up to 70% and reducing runoff by 60-100%. The industry grew 5-15% from 2013-2019, with 763 projects covering more than 3.1 million square feet installed in 2019.

三鷹市 · 三鷹市 · Japan

Mitaka City's greening subsidy covers up to half the actual cost of rooftop greening work, capped at 20,000 yen per square meter (with a combined cap of 1 million yen for rooftop and wall greening together). Wall greening is subsidized up to 10,000 yen per square meter, and street-facing greening up to 14,000 yen per meter. Applicants must obtain approval before starting work, and sites that received the subsidy within the past five years are ineligible.

農林水産省 · 農林水産省 · Japan

This MAFF page explains that community gardens (shimin nouen) in Japan can be established by municipalities, agricultural cooperatives, landowning farmers, or non-landowning entities such as companies and NPOs, under three legal frameworks: the Community Garden Development Promotion Act, the Specified Farmland Lease Act, and the Urban Farmland Lease Act. It is primarily procedural guidance for prospective operators, with a FY2026 explanatory pamphlet available.

· Wikipedia · Global

This article describes green roofs as roof structures covered with vegetation and growing media that provide stormwater retention, insulation, urban heat island mitigation, and biodiversity benefits. Installation costs vary widely by system type, from $108-248/m2 for extensive systems to $355-2,368/m2 for intensive systems, with long-term economic benefits such as extended roof lifespan and increased property value offsetting high upfront costs.

· Wikipedia (German) · Germany

This article on green roofs in Germany explains that some major cities subsidize up to 50% of installation costs, and reduced stormwater fees (averaging €0.46/m2/year, up to €1.12/m2/year in Cologne) are also used to encourage adoption. Green roofs can be mandated in municipal development plans and used as ecological compensation measures, with about 8 million m2 newly greened annually nationwide, over 80% of it extensive systems.