Invisible Crimes Underground: Japan's Environmental Risks Reflected by Stable Landfills, 1993-1994

Invisible Crimes Underground: Japan's Environmental Risks Reflected by Stable Landfills, 1993-1994
In 1993-1994, Japan was witnessing a series of revelations of serious fraud and environmental pollution surrounding stable final disposal sites. Originally, this repository was designed as a low-risk facility to bury only stable wastes such as scrap metal and glass, and was permitted to be constructed without requiring impervious sheeting or leachate treatment facilities. In reality, however, unpermitted sludge, incinerator ash, organic matter, and oil-containing wastes were mixed in, and cases of toxic substances spreading underground through rainwater infiltration occurred frequently throughout the country. In a series of cases, residents filed complaints, triggered by strange smells, discoloration, and health concerns about underground water, and the problem was made visible to society. The economic stagnation that followed the collapse of the bubble economy made waste disposal a cost-cutting measure, and the rampant use of unauthorized and unlicensed waste disposal compan
ies was accelerating.

Residents rose up to demand well water testing, campaigned against disposal sites, and monitored trucks, sharing nationwide anger that urban waste was being forced on rural areas. At the time, large-scale illegal dumping, such as the Teshima Incident, was also a social problem, and distrust of waste administration as a whole was growing. The Environmental Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, in response to complaints from local residents and media reports, launched a nationwide survey, which confirmed that many stable waste disposal sites were in violation of standards and had inadequate structures, making it inevitable that regulations would be tightened. The conventional concept of "safe because it is stable" has been greatly changed.

These problems were not only the result of inadequate systems, but also structural environmental crimes created by economically-first treatment practices that pushed risks into places where they could not be seen. Groundwater contamination is difficult to recover from once it has progressed, and the series of incidents in the 1990s marked a turning point in establishing the precautionary principle of "no mixing, no leaking" in Japan's waste policy.