Japan's guidelines for controlling dioxins and dibenzofurans in municipal waste treatment

Abstract

After waste reduction and recycling, municipal waste must be incinerated and/or buried in landfills. Incineration plays an important role as a waste treatment method in Japan because of Japan's high population density and limited landfill area. Of the 46 million tons of municipal waste produced in 1987, 73% was incinerated. In December 1990 the Ministry of Health and Welfare promulgated guidelines for control of polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in municipal waste treatment. This guideline is based on the stand point that PCDDs/PCDFs discharge should be prevented as low as technically and practically possible. The guidelines are outlined as follows. Under these conditions, PCDDs/PCDFs are expected to amount to less than nearly 0.5 ng-TEQ/m 3N in new continuous type furnaces, which account for 70% of the total incineration capacity. Other types of furnaces are expected to result in much lower concentrations than at present.