Illegal Dumping of Industrial Waste at the Border of Aomori and Iwate Prefectures

Illegal Dumping of Industrial Waste at the Border of Aomori and Iwate Prefectures
Origins in the 1990s
From the 1970s to the 1990s, industrial waste was illegally dumped along the border between Shichinohe-cho, Kamikita-gun, Aomori Prefecture and Ichinohe-cho, Ninohe-gun, Iwate Prefecture. The total volume reached 876,000 cubic meters and included construction waste, plastic, scrap metal, and sludge, raising concerns about soil and groundwater contamination. The disposal company that dumped the waste filed false reports, and inadequate supervision led to the spread of the problem.

Response in 2004
The Ministry of the Environment approved a removal plan prepared by Aomori and Iwate prefectures to resolve the problem, and set a policy of removing the waste and restoring the site to its original condition over a 10-year period. The total project cost amounted to 92.2 billion yen, with Aomori Prefecture bearing 41.4 billion yen and Iwate Prefecture 22.1 billion yen, and the national government providing approximately 60% of the total support through local allocation taxes. As the largest industrial waste problem in Japan, this incident provided an opportunity to reexamine measures to improve environmental policies and prevent illegal dumping.

Current Status in the 2020s
In February 2023, Iwate Prefecture's Council for Restoration Measures issued a "Declaration of Restoration" for the illegal dumping problem, and the removal of the waste and soil remediation were completed. 1.15 million tons of waste was removed from the Aomori Prefecture side and 350,000 tons from the Iwate Prefecture side, and toxic substances including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were removed. The cost of restoring the site to its original condition in Aomori Prefecture was 48 billion yen, with the government providing approximately 60% of the cost.

Future Issues
Measures to utilize the land and prevent recurrence are important. The local community and government are working together to find a sustainable way to utilize the site. In addition, lessons learned from this incident need to be applied to education, and proper industrial waste management and monitoring systems need to be strengthened.

This case highlights the importance of industrial waste management and the need for cooperation between government and local communities, and marks a turning point for environmental policy in Japan.