Tokorozawa Kunugiyama Incinerator forestation and regulatory torrent, late 1990s to around 2002

Tokorozawa Kunugiyama Incinerator forestation and regulatory torrent, late 1990s to around 2002

In the forests of the valley, the chimneys of small incinerators lined the mountains and black smoke billowed in the air. The news media incited this as a symbol of dioxin pollution, but actual measurements showed that Tokorozawa was not the only place where dioxin pollution was particularly bad. Nevertheless, anxiety spread, sparking a backlash against the final disposal site. Tokorozawa City, which was in the middle of a whirlwind, decided to abolish all incinerators in the city with subsidies, a major turnaround for the region. Meanwhile, the system was changed from "five tons per day" to "200 kilometers per hour," and small incinerators with a catalog capacity of 190 kilograms per hour became the mainstay of the "unlicensed zone. The Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins soon established notification thresholds, and secondary combustion and exhaust gas purification became standard equipment. The combination of scrubbers, cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, an
d fabric filters was the key to smoke quality. But operation was difficult. Insufficient air supply would produce incomplete combustion and clinker would stick. Dry distillation furnaces and gasification and combustion furnaces have been introduced as a countermeasure, but the burden of pretreatment and operation management, as well as construction costs, have skyrocketed. Profitability was thin, and the surplus capacity for small-scale in-house disposal was thinning, and disposal in the Tokyo metropolitan area spread over a wide area. In reaction to the media coverage, industrial waste flowed to surrounding cities, which was also known as "Tokorozawa special demand. Scrubbers were prone to clogging, causing frequent cleaning stoppages, and the gap between nominal capacity and actual operation put pressure on management. If the air ratio of waste plastics with high calorific value is off, unburned residue is generated, which damages furnace materials. Stabilization requires
pre-processing such as crushing and sorting, sufficient secondary combustion temperatures, and retention time, but costs will skyrocket. The tightness of final disposal sites is also serious, and intermediate treatment in the Tokyo metropolitan area has been increasingly dispersing its load across the country, seeking destinations in Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kinki, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The smoke from Kunugiyama thinned, and the city's waste logistics looked for a new destination. It was a bumpy ride.