The purpose of the present Act is to promote comprehensively and systematically the policies for the establishment of a “Sound Material-Cycle Society” and thereby help ensure healthy and cultured living for both the present and future generations of the nation, through articulating the basic principles on the establishment of such a society, in conformity with the basic philosophy of the Environment Basic Act (Act No. 91 of 1993), clarifying the responsibilities of the State, local governments,