Osaka, Japan police raid firm for illegal dumping

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/news04.html

 Mainichi Daily News

                                      Thursday, September 23, 1999

         Osaka police raid firm for illegal dumping

         By Nao Yamamoto
         Mainichi Shimbun

         Police on Wednesday raided an Osaka industrial-waste disposal
         business and dozens of other locations on suspicion that the
company
         illegally dumped at least 140 tons of industrial waste in
mountainous
         areas in western Japan.

         Police said they searched Maruichi Shoten in Osaka's Kita-ku,
an
         unnamed shipping agency and waste-disposal sites for related
         evidence of the illegal dumping scheme covering an extensive
area
         around the Inland Sea.

         Maruichi Shoten, according to police, transported industrial
waste
         from Osaka to four locations in Ehime, Tokushima, and Hyogo
         prefectures in early August. The company used an unlicensed
shipping
         agent for transportation and unauthorized disposal sites for
dumping.

         Under the Wastes Disposal and Public Cleaning Law, industrial
         sludge must be disposed of after lowering the toxicity by
dehydration
         and incineration at special facilities.

         Maruichi Shoten operates no such disposal facilities and
disposed of
         waste at half the average price by illegally dumping, police
said.

         Usually industrial waste disposal businesses receive about
15,000 yen
         to dry and incinerate 1 ton of waste.

         In Wednesday's raids, investigators even questioned officials
at Iyo
         City Hall, Ehime Prefecture, who allegedly failed to detect
toxicity
         contained in sludge dumped by Maruichi Shoten in a disposal
site.

         Worrying about increasing illegal waste dumping and
environmentally
         harmful incineration, prefectural police headquarters across
the nation
         have been stepping up their investigations into such crimes.