今週の記事（4週連続35回目の採用）

Japan trades hazardous waste with other countries, especially with developing countries, because the fee of waste disposal is cheaper than in Japan and other advanced countries. We have a few imports for recycling and many exports for disposal.


If illegal hazardous wastes are found in containers or other places, the owners are sentenced up to 5 years of penal servitude, or fined up to US$100,000 if the owner is an individual, and as much as $1 million if the owner is a corporation.

Japan became a member of the Basel Convention in 1993 and established a domestic law according to the Basel Convention which strictly regulated hazardous waste imports/exports.

Citizens are also concerned about hazardous waste and the treatment of waste, and sometimes strong citizen movements appear when they have some trouble with disposal traders, because we have many experiences of environmental pollution caused by industrial hazardous wastes.

From what I know, Viet Nam has ratified the Basel Convention since 2005, but it seems that regulations have been loosely enforced here. At least the fines should run into the astronomical numbers, the same as in Japan.