## (2) Ensuring systematic development of sea area waste disposal sites

Sea area waste disposal sites are developed in order to receive dredged sediment generated produced by development and management of port infrastructure, as well as domestic wastes that have difficulty in ensuring in-land disposal sites. In the Osaka Bay, in particular, regional waste disposal sites are developed based upon the Osaka Bay Phoenix Project, receiving domestic wastes from 168 municipalities under 6 prefectures in the region. In addition, based on the Super Phoenix Plan, sediment from construction/dismantling activities generated at the Greater Tokyo Area is transported by sea to various ports to be used for landfilling material.

## Recycling vehicles and marine vessels

## (1) Recycling vehicles

In accordance with the “Act on Recycling, et. of End-of-Life Vehicles (Act for automobile recycling),” a system for confirming that end-of-life vehicles are scrapped is being implemented. When deleting vehicle registration from the “Road Transportation Vehicle Law,” the scheme for returns in vehicle weight tax is also conducted, in order to promote the proper disposal of end-of-life vehicles and prevent illegal dumping.

## (2) Recycling marine vessels

The recycling of large vessels (ship recycle) $ ^{Note1} $ has generally been conducted in developing nations such as Bangladesh and India where the frequent occurrence of human casualty accidents and marine pollution in the facilities continue to raise concern. In order to solve these issues, Japan's lead discussions with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which resulted in the adoption of the "2009 Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships (tentative name) (Ship Recycling Convention)." This convention mandates the inspection and retention of proof documents for marine vessels and ship recycling facilities respectively, and also bans the use of asbestos or polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in newly built vessels. Various guidelines to supplement the implementation of this convention were formulated under the initiative of Japan and were all adopted in October 2012.

As for domestic measures, Japan is taking the global lead in efforts towards implementing an environmentally friendly ship recycling system for advanced nations. We are constructing a project operation scheme based on the market characteristics and deliberating a stable and continuous method of business operation.

On other fronts, because privately owned pleasure boats are mostly made of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP), which is difficult to dispose, there has been a demand for a waste processing route for proper disposal. In response, we undertook activities in building a processing route, as well as developing recycling technologies for FRP boats. As a result, approximately 700 FRP vessels are properly recycled yearly under the leadership of the Japan Boating Industry Association throughout Japan since 2005.

## 4 Promoting material procurement that contributes to reducing the environmental load

## (1) Efforts for Green Procurement $ ^{Note 2} $

In light of partial revisions to the basic government policies, based on the “Law Concerning the Promotion of Procurement of Eco-Friendly Goods and Services by the State and Other Entities (Law on Promoting Green Purchasing),” the “Basic Policy on Promoting Green Procurement” was adopted. Based on this policy, we are actively promoting procurement of eco-friendly goods and services for building materials, construction machinery, method of construction and objectives in public construction work.