Hiroki Hashizume

Ministry of Health and Welfare, Office of Industrial Waste Management, Deputy Director
(1-2-2 Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-45 Japan)

Abstract

At one time, in Japan, 54,000 tons of PCBs were used. PCBs were used very extensively, and particularly as insulation oil for power generation, electric appliances, and no-carbon copy paper, etc. After prohibition of production, import and use of PCBs in 1974, they have been stored as waste by the respective owners of the PCBs waste. PCBs containing waste are controlled particularly strictly as "specially controlled waste" under the Waste Management Law amended in 1992. A survey by ministry of Health and Welfare on the status quo of PCB waste storage revealed that 7% of PCBs containing waste transformers and condensers were lost. 4% of non-carbon paper was also lost. This paper reviews the outline of Japan's restriction on PCBs waste and basic direction of its policy for improvement.

Key words: PCBs, insulation oil, specially controlled waste, hazardous waste