Kiyoshi Sanehira

Environmental Protection and Recycling Planning Center, Toshiba Corporation
(1-1, Shibaura 1-Choume, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8001 Japan)

Abstract

The PRTR Act was announced in July 1999, and companies will be required to grasp their situations with respect to the discharge of chemical substances from April 2001 onward. Through participation in the pilot scheme of the Environmental Agency of Japan, Toshiba has already gained experience of PRTR during a period of three years. This paper presents an overview of Toshiba's efforts to respect the control of chemical substances, and introduces the history of Toshiba's involvement in PRTR and actual case studies. Additionally, this paper discusses issues that will be necessary to address namely, construction of systems for control of chemical substances, risk communication, and the relation between control of chemical substances and countermeasures respecting waste.

Key words: PRTR, chemical substances, waste, disclosure, risk communication