The Environment Ministry has compiled a draft bill promoting appropriate disposal of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) that will require businesses to remove the compound from instruments that contain it, ministry sources said Saturday.
The bill will be submitted to the current Diet session.
PCBs are carcinogenic compounds that accumulate in animal tissues and can interfere with human reproductive systems. They have been used as insulation in products such as transformers and condensers.
The draft bill requires businesses such as electric power companies currently storing PCBs to absolutely and appropriately eliminate them within a designated period, which the ministry estimates will be about 10 years from the enactment of the law.
The draft bill also requires that central and local governments design plans to promote systems to eliminate the compound.
Failure to comply with the order will incur a maximum three-year prison term or a 10 million yen fine.
The draft legislation urges the state to compile a basic plan to eliminate existing PCBs, including the estimated volume of generation, storage and disposal of PCB waste, as well as plans for construction of PCB disposal facilities.
It urges prefectural and municipal governments to encourage companies within their boundaries to promote PCB waste elimination.
Furthermore, central and local governments will be expected to monitor such companies' efforts by demanding yearly reports on PCB waste storage and disposal, the draft bill says.
Production and distribution of PCBs has been banned in Japan since 1972 and goods made with PCBs are subject to strict controls under the Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law.
The legislation was enacted after a widespread outbreak of food poisoning in western Japan in 1968 caused by cooking-oil containing PCBs.
The unauthorized disposal of PCBs is also banned as some researchers say toxic dioxins are generated as byproducts.