November 8, 2005
The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) carried out the national surveys on industrial wastes to grasp the cases of illegal dumping that were newly uncovered in FY 2004 and the remaining cases of illegal dumping as well as inappropriate disposal as of March 31, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as "the illegal waste dumping cases or the like").
The government has been implementing number of policies and measures to eliminate illegal dumping as well as inappropriate disposal, and the number of newly revealed cases and volume of illegal dumping has been downward trend. However, complete eradication of the illegal waste dumping cases or the like has been yet to be achieved. Also, the total number and volume of remaining cases have been increasing.
The MOE has been working on the strengthening of penalty for illegal waste dumping or the like through revision of the Law, enhancement of manifest system, enhanced responsibility of waste generator or the like as well as introduction of punishment for attempt of illegal waste dumping or the like. The MOE shall further enhance illegal dumping measures by utilizing its Regional Environment Offices established on October 1, 2005.
In order to promote the elimination of difficulties for conservation of the living environment, the MOE shall support administrative subrogation conducted by local governments with fund contributed by the Appropriate Management Promotion Center.
<Summary of the survey results>
| 1. | Illegal dumping of industrial wastes uncovered in FY 2004 |
In FY 2004, 673 cases of illegal dumping were known, which reduced compared to FY 2003. Total volume of illegal dumping was 411 thousand tons. (Fig. 1)
The number of large scale dumping in which more than 5,000 tons were dumped was seven cases, which accounts for 1% of the total cases of illegal dumping. Total volume of these seven large-scale illegal dumping was 305 thousand tons, which accounts for 74.4% of the total illegal dumping (411 thousand tons). (Tables 1 & 2)
The top two parties responsible for illegal dumping cases were waste generators and unknown parties accounting 43.1% (290 cases) and 38.9% (262 cases) respectively. The illegally dumped quantity by top four parties were; 245 thousand tons (59.6%) by waste treatment operators, 87 thousand tons (21.2%) by waste treatment operators without license, 41 thousand tons (10.1%) by unknown parties and 32 thousand tons (7.9%) by waste treatment operators. (Fig. 2)
The number of cases related to construction wastes was 479 accounting for 71.2% (69.5% in FY 2003) of the total 673 cases. Breakdown of 479 cases by kind of waste shows that 20 cases of sludge, 28 cases of waste plastic, 119 cases of waste wood, 207 cases of debris and 105 cases of construction aggregates. Volume of illegally dumped construction wastes was 354 thousand tons (10 thousand tons of sludge, 230 thousand tons of waste plastic, 35 thousand tons of waste wood, 43 thousand tons of debris and 36 thousand tons of construction aggregates), which accounts for 86.2% of the total (94.1% in FY 2003). (Fig. 3)
Out of 673 cases, total number of illegal dumping, operations to remove difficulties for conservation of the living environment started for 387 cases within FY 2004, which accounts for 57.5% of the total (Figs. 4 & 5)
| 2. | Illegal dumping as well as inappropriate disposal of industrial waste that remain as of March 31, 2005* |
| * | The survey was conducted on cases which correspond to both (a) and (b) below remaining as of March 31, 2005 except sulfate pitch case. | |
| (a) | Industrial waste stipulated in the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law (hereinafter referred to as "the Law"), inappropriately disposed (not complying with the standards on the collection, transport and disposal of industrial waste in Paragraph 1, Article12 of the Law and/or of specially controlled industrial waste in Paragraph 1, Article12-2), or illegally dumped against Article 16 of the Law. | |
| (b) | Remaining volume per case is more than 10 tons as of March 31, 2005. All the cases relevant to specially controlled industrial wastes are included regardless of remaining volume. | |
Number of remaining cases are 2,560 (2,320 cases in FY 2003) and the total remaining volume is 15.795 million tons (12.670 million tons in FY 2003), showing upward trend in both number of cases and volume. Number of remaining cases with more than 5,000 tons are 334 (13% of the total) and remaining volume is 14.489 million tons (91.7% of the total). (Fig. 6)
Top three parties involved in remaining cases include 949 cases (37.1%) by waste generating operators, 654 cases (25.5%) by unknown parties and 578 cases (22.6%) by operators without license. Top three parties involved in remaining cases in terms of volume are licensed operators (8.282 million tons, 52.4%), operators without license (3.939 million tons, 24.9%) and waste treatment operators (1.732 million tons, 11%). (Fig. 7)
Breakdown of remaining wastes by the types of waste shows construction wastes are 1,773 cases (69.3% of the total cases) while remaining volume of construction wastes is 10.083 million tons (63.8% of the total). (Fig. 8)
Fig. 9 shows number of remaining cases known in FY 2004 was 538 (21%), which outnumbers those in other years, followed by 446 cases (17.4%) in FY 2003 and 390 cases (15.2%) in FY 2001. Also, it shows that in FY 1998, 3.250 million tons (20.6%) of remaining wastes were revealed and 2.868 million tons (18.2%) in FY 1999, 1.265 million tons (8.0%) in FY 1997.
Administrative orders were issued to the sowers of 84 cases (7.102 million tons) to remove difficulties for conservation of the living environment. As for the 13 cases (3.522 million tons) out of 84, necessary measures such as administrative subrogation have been taken. (Table 3)
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