**Waste Disposal Throne and Tightrope Walking Era Late 1990s to around 2000**.

**Waste Disposal Throne and Tightrope Walking Era Late 1990s to around 2000**.

Becoming the owner of a final disposal site was the ultimate dream in the industrial waste industry at the time. The man who started his business with a single dump truck and finally acquired a huge disposal site was regarded as an up-and-coming figure in the industry, and he was called a "champion. The reality, however, is not a secure throne. Construction requires a huge investment of several to ten billion yen, and in addition to land acquisition, local measures, and administrative consultation, there are the heavy risks of maintenance and management for several decades after closure, as well as compensation in the event of an environmental accident.

The background to this is the shortage of disposal sites that has worsened in Japan since the 1990s. The rapid increase in waste during the period of high economic growth and the bubble economy did not decrease even after the burst of the bubble economy, and in particular, there was a huge amount of construction waste and industrial waste from the manufacturing industry. In addition, referendums, lawsuits, and opposition movements were active throughout the country, making it extremely difficult to obtain new permits.

In terms of related technology, the types of disposal sites diversified during this period, and the three categories of stable, controlled, and isolated types were clarified. Environmental protection technologies such as impervious sheets, leachate treatment facilities, and monitoring wells were introduced, and advanced water treatment systems became mandatory, especially for controlled and isolated types. This led to a sharp rise in construction costs, and required an investment that was an order of magnitude higher than that required for a conventional stable type repository, which is similar to an unexcavated repository. On the other hand, the low-cost construction of stable-type repositories was still accessible to small-scale operators, and they continued to be maintained in formal compliance with the legal standards.

Furthermore, large-scale environmental crimes such as the 1999 illegal dumping incident at the Aomori-Iwate border in Iwate Prefecture shook the public, and the eyes of the public turned sharply on the waste industry. Even licensed disposal sites were seen as problematic in that they were not unlike illegal dumping sites, and the government attempted to respond by amending the law and tightening regulations. However, the tension between regulations and industry practice continued, and the field was in the process of seeking technological improvements to reduce environmental burdens, even as it poked holes in the system.

Thus, the era in which the "champion theory of final disposal sites" was established was one of institutional and social turbulence, in which the glory of the front stage and the tightrope walking of the back stage cohabited. The throne looked glorious, but its footing was always on the verge of crumbling.