AIST has established a high efficiency hydrogen/methane fermentation semi-pilot plant to decompose kitchen refuse, paper waste and food waste with anaerobic microbes and to recover hydrogen and methane at the AIST Tsukuba West, in collaboration with Nishihara Environment Technology, Co., Ltd , Ebara Corp., Kajima Corp. and Japan Bioindustry Association. (See Photo.) This plant is a world first semi-pilot plant to recover hydrogen and methane separately from kitchen refuge, paper waste and food waste through the two-stage fermentation process. Percent energy recovery could be extensively improved from 40~46 % to 55 %. This work is supported by NEDO, Japan.