Between the Environment and Illegality: A Tale of Waste Plastic Transboundary Tales, March 2001

Between the Environment and Illegality: A Tale of Waste Plastic Transboundary Tales, March 2001

In 2001, Japan was promoting a recycling-oriented society, and had been developing systems such as the Containers and Packaging Recycling System, the Home Appliance Recycling System, and the Basic Law for Establishing a Recycling-Oriented Society. Behind the scenes, however, the illegal export of waste plastics had become a serious problem. Faced with domestic processing costs and a shortage of final disposal sites, companies sent their waste to Asian countries under the guise of recycling, where it was repeatedly incinerated and dumped. Bare-handed sorting and low-temperature incineration produced toxic substances that threatened people's health and the ecosystem. This was in violation of the Basel Convention, which internationally regulates the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, and was an act that undermined Japan's credibility.

In the background, stagnation and pressure to cut costs after the bursting of the bubble economy, as well as the expansion of logistics networks, led contractors who exploited gaps in the system to shift the environmental burden to developing countries. In Japan, concerns that sorting efforts would be ignored and criticism of the inadequacies of the system grew, and NGOs and the media sounded the alarm. In response, the government moved to strengthen export regulations and tighten screening procedures, and in Japan, sorting accuracy was improved and processing facilities were upgraded.

March 2001 was a symbolic time when the contradiction between the philosophy and reality of resource recycling was exposed, leading to a later policy shift.