- Improvement of technology to use molding sand for a long period of time by enhancing methods to use waste molding sand

- Development of new applications for the use of waste molding sand, for example, as material for civil engineering or soil improvement

In this way, concrete measures are defined to improve technologies related to promoting the control of the generation of by-products and used products, etc. and the use of regenerated resources or regenerated components, and this leads to the development and introduction of related technologies.

## (5) Laws and ordinances related to pollution

To treat waste properly, it is necessary to prevent secondary pollution from waste management facilities. The treatment of waste must therefore comply with the emission standards and waste water standards, etc. defined in the Air Pollution Control Law or the Water Pollution Control Law. Specifically, the Air Pollution Control Law defines emission standards, etc. for air polluting substances emitted from fixed sources by substance type and by type and volume of the emitting facility. Waste incinerators (with a fire grate area of $ 2 \, m^{2} $ or more or an incineration capacity of $ 200 \, kg/hour $ or more) also must, as facilities which emit soot and smoke, comply with the emission standards related to dust, nitrogen oxide and others.

Meanwhile, the Water Pollution Control Law specifies a part of incineration facilities for general waste or treatment facilities for industrial waste as designated facilities, putting them under the obligation to comply with the waste water standards. To comply with these pollution regulations, the development and introduction of various technologies for preventing pollution in waste management facilities was accelerated.

With the enforcement of the “Law Concerning Special Measures Against Dioxins” in January 2000, Cabinet orders and ministerial ordinances of the waste management and Public Cleansing Law were revised, and the dust and combustion residue, etc. emitted from waste incineration facilities, which are designated facilities, as well as leachate, etc. from final landfill sites became subject to the regulations related to dioxins. As a result, the development and introduction of technology for controlling dioxin emissions also advanced.

## Column : Implementation Status of the Basel Convention

To address the problem of environmental pollution, etc. caused by hazardous waste crossing country borders, the “Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal” came into force in 1992 and was ratified in Japan in 1993. In recent years, the international movement to recycle resources has grown, backed by rising demand for resources due to rapid economic growth in Asian countries, for example. In fiscal 2005, there was no export from Japan to developing countries, but import of nickel-cadmium battery scrap, electronic component scrap, waste fluorescent light bulbs and others was conducted mainly from Asian countries for regeneration, such as recovering the metal or regenerating the glass.

Exports and imports on the basis of the Basel Convention (Fiscal 2005)

Figures in brackets represent FY2004.

Exports from Japan	Imports into Japan
Reports to the partner country	9 (11)	19,980t (18,822)	Reports to the partner country	25 (16)	9,625t (9,253)
Export approvals	11 (5)	25,220t (10,502)	Import approvals	19 (19)	6,844t (8,562)
Issuance of export movement documents	109 (37)	14,057t (6,510)	Issuance of import movement documents	77 (71)	3,971t (4,812)
Partner country	South Korea, Belgium, United States of America, Canada	Partner country	Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, South Korea
Articles	Lead scrap, solder scrap, lead ash, lead slag, waste potassium nitrate	Articles	Copper sludge, silver sludge, glass cullets (scrapped Brown tubes), electronic component scrap, nickel-cadmium battery scrap, etc.

Source: Ministry of the Environment