Chapter II -3 :Quality of the Environment in Japan 1997
Chapter II : How to Utilise Products with Consideration for the Environment
3. Sound Management of Polluting Substances
Characteristics of Environmental Problems Caused by Chemical Substances
Today, about 100,000 kinds of chemical substances are marketed in the world, and about 50,000 of these are to be found in Japan. These substances are thought to be necessary in people's lives and societies, however, some of these also have the potential to cause irreversible effects on both human health and the health of natural ecosystems. Even if the damage caused by chemical substances is reversible, it sometimes takes a long time and a lot of work to repair that which has been affected.
Many of today's environmental contamination problems caused by chemical substances involve negative effects on human health and on the health of natural ecosystems. Some characteristics of today's chemical-related problems follow:
- 1)
- Some chemical substances are known to be toxic but threshold concentrations necessary for the emergence of negative effects are unknown. It is necessary to establish a safety level for such substances by making investigations and then producing adequate controls. Also, some chemical substances have only been evaluated in qualitative terms, with no attention paid to their effects in quantitative terms. These need to be examined.
- 2)
- The number of chemical substances is increasing and the forms of their discharge into the environment and the effects resulting from their discharge is becoming increasingly varied.
- 3)
- Very little is known about compound contamination and its effects.
Also, there has been no environmental impact assessment conducted for the majority of chemical substances that are currently in use.
Reinforcing Environmental Risk Evaluation and Systematic Information Gathering
To tackle today's chemical substance-related issues, existing regulations, which deal with individual health issues caused by high-level contamination of a limited amount of chemical substances, are far from sufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the possibility of chemical substances causing damage to efforts to conserve the environment in a wider sense. This is known as "environmental risk." In order to minimise environmental risk, systematic and comprehensive measures are needed to reduce the environmental risk of chemical substances as a whole.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to understand the character of individual chemical substances, their sources, and their emissions in quantitative terms. Environmental risk assessments must be swiftly carried out for as many chemical substances as possible. Further efforts should be made to systematically collect and accumulate information to be used in environmental risk evaluation.
As for highly toxic dioxins, which are created unintentionally, as a by-product of, for example, incineration processes and chemical synthesis processes, the Environment Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, carried out a risk assessment in 1996.
Environmental Risk
"Risk" is a concept which indicates undesirable results and the probability of occurrence of these same results related to human activities. Risk is basically evaluated by the "uncertainty of occurrence" and the "size of effects" as they apply to the undesirable events for human beings. For instance, even if the possibly negative effect of an action or a substance is very serious, if the probability of the negative effect happening is almost nil, then the environmental risk is assessed as small. "Environmental risk" is a concept that indicates the possibilities of environmental load caused by human activities inflicting damage for efforts to conserve the environment.
Comprehensive Management of Environmental Risk
In order to reduce environmental risk involving chemical substances, It is necessary to adequately assess the levels of environmental risk that exist for each substance. Using the results, policies such as regulation and induction should be introduced. In addition, a comprehensive management system to reduce the environmental risk as a whole, taking into account various potentially toxic substances, should be adopted.
Moreover, "risk communication" to form a common level of understanding on the part of all those concerned at every level of society should be promoted. This is done through Information exchanges between the various individual sectors that go to make up society. It is also an important task to prevent the negative effects that chemical substances may exert on natural ecosystems.
Efforts to Establish the PRTR System
Today, a new approach for the management of chemical substance-related environmental risk is needed. For this, the OECD recommended the introduction of the PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) to all member states, and in many countries including non-OECD nations, the feasibility and implications of its introduction are being examined. The PRTR system is defined by OECD as a "list/register of potentially toxic chemical substances that are emitted or transported from their sources." Under the PRTR system, commercial enterprises regularly self-check the emission of a wide range of regulated and non-regulated but potentially toxic substances, and also monitor the amount of waste that is transported. The emissions are checked separately --- emission into the air, those that enter water and those that enter soil and all data is publicly announced, in a transparent and objective system.
The PRTR system has been employed so far by mostly Western nations. In the framework of the European Union, the introduction of a system to collect and officially announce data on major pollutants is being discussed. In addition, in many non-OECD countries, the feasibility of introducing the PRTR system is also currently under examination.
In Japan, the Environment Agency has been investigating comprehensive measures regarding chemical substances. In June 1996, the results of the investigation were compiled, and the following three points were suggested as tasks that are necessary to be undertaken for sound chemical substance risk management to be achieved, using the PRTR as a central pillar around which the issue can be dealt with.
- 1)
- The reinforcement of systematic collection of information regarding chemicals and the environmental risk evaluation of these chemical substances.
- 2)
- Comprehensive management of chemical substances.
- 3)
- Information dissemination and promotion of efforts by the individual groups that go to make up society.
PRTR Mechanism According to the OECD Guidance 
Source: Environment Agency
PRTR System in Different Countries
| Countries | System | Targeted substances | Targeted facilities | Data treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S.A. | TRI (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory) | About 650 kinds | Manufacturing industry (with over a certain number of staff and an amount of annually acquired chemical substances) | Made open to the public in the form of a data base (data provided for each facility) |
| Canada | NPRI (National Pollutant Release Inventory) | About 180 kinds | Manufacturing industry (with over a certain number of staff and a certain amount of annually acquired chemical substances) | Made open to the public in the form of a data base (data provided for each facility) |
| U.K. | CRI (Chemical Release Inventory) | About 500 kinds | Manufacturing industry (Types of business are listed.) | Made open to the public in the form of a data base, containing details of substances and regional distribution |
| Germany | Air Pollutant Emission Inventory | All pollution chemical substances used in factories and other premises | Manufacturing industry (Types of business are listed.) | Statistics are sorted and made open to the public. (Individual data for each facility is not made public.) |
| Holland | IEI (Individual Emission Inventory System) | About 900 kinds | Large scale manufacturers | Made open to the public upon request (Individual data for each facility is not made public.) |
Source: Environment Agency
Reduction of Toxic Substances Contained in Products
In order to prevent environmental pollution caused by toxic substances contained in household electric devices and automobiles, or when toxic substances are used in recyclable parts, it is necessary to properly recycle the toxic substances by promoting responsible parts collection.
As for new products, the gradual reduction in the amount of toxic substances used in products needs to be pursued. In addition, in the case of products that it is not possible to recycle, the use of toxic substances needs to be reduced as much as possible. In this case, it would be effective to establish goals regarding emissions of toxic substances.
Promotion of Measures to Counter Ozone Depletion
The Ozone Layer Protection Law already regulates the use of CFCs and other ozone depleting substances. However, there is still a significant amount of CFCs currently being used in refrigerators and automobile air conditioners which were produced in the past. It is a present task to promote the collection, reuse and/or destruction of these CFCs.
In June 1995, the Government compiled measures to promote the collection, reuse and/or destruction of CFCs. Following the introduction of these measures, many local governments are currently collecting CFCs from discarded refrigerators.