Japan New bills on factory waste

[John Visher <visherjc@crisscross.com>]

http://www.asahi.com/english/enews/enews.html#enews_26362


December 6, 1999

     New bills on factory waste

Asahi Shimbun

The Health and Welfare Ministry has decided to require producers of
industrial wastes to remove the contaminates if they are illegally
dumped, ministry sources said.

The ministry is planning to submit bills to revise the current Wastes
Disposal and Public Cleaning Law to the ordinary Diet session that
starts in January, the sources said.

The decision was made in response to the growing amount of improperly
dumped industrial wastes, the sources said.

Under the current law, wastes producers are required to dispose of the
material themselves or use an authorized disposal company. Even if
disposal companies fail to properly handle the
material, producers of the wastes are exempt from obligation to remove
the improperly dumped wastes.

If enacted, the new bills will enable prefectural governors to order
waste producers to remove wastes if the materials are dumped improperly
or if it is difficult for disposal companies to
remove the material, the sources said.

Currently, if disposal companies disappear or cannot afford the costs to
remove the wastes, prefectural governments remove the illegally dumped
wastes at their own expense.

In fiscal 1998, 443,000 tons of industrial waste was dumped illegally
and about two-thirds of it was left unremoved.

Under the revision bills, the prefectural governments can order the
waste producers to remove the illegally dumped material if the producers
are identified. Landowners where waste is
dumped will also be required to share responsibility for removing waste
if landowners OK'd the illegal dumping, the sources said.