Three Prefectures to Charge for Transboundary Industrial Waste

The prefectural assemblies of Aomori, Iwate, and Akita in the northern Tohoku district of Japan recently jointly enacted two local ordinances: one for a tax on industrial waste, and the other for a prior consultation on industrial waste from other prefectures.

In Japan, an industrial waste tax was first introduced in Mie Prefecture, soon followed by Tottori, Okayama and Hiroshima. This new approach in the Tohoku region, however, is the first time local governments have cooperated beyond their prefectural jurisdictions to introduce an environmental preservation fee on industrial waste carried in by disposal firms from other prefectures.

Existing restrictions by the governments on industrial waste disposal were found to be inadequate to address issues such as the reduction of industrial waste and the control of unregulated transboundary movement among prefectures. The three prefectures are especially suffering from illegal dumping of waste carried in from the metropolitan area surrounding Tokyo, motivating them to work together to handle the problem with economic instruments.

The tax will be 1,000 yen (about U.S.$8.40) per tonne oncompanies that carry industrial waste to final disposal sites, including companies generating industrial waste, and intermediate treatment facilities . Regarding industrial waste brought in from outside the three prefectures, they will charge an environmental preservation fee from 50 to 500 yen per tonne (about U.S.$0.42 to $4.20), to be used as funds for environmental protection to cover costs for promotion of recycling and proper disposal of industrial wastes.



Posted: 2003/02/24 12:52:06 PM
Japanese version