Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) is a system for tracking where chemical substances that may cause adverse effects to human health and the environment come from and their quantities. This system is expected to aid in reducing the amount of toxic chemicals being released along with the associated environmental risks.
For Japan′s fiscal year 2011, based on the national PRTR system, 36638 business entities reported chemical substance amounts being released and transferred. The total amount released was approximately 174 k tons and the total transferred amount was approximately 225 k tons, for an amount of 399 k tons released and transferred in total. The number of industrial and other facilities decreased compared to the previous fiscal year, but a slight increase was noted in the total of the reported amounts of substances released and transferred, as also in the amounts of substances continuously subject to notification. According to reports, substance amounts have also continuously seen a slight increase. Since the PRTR system was established in Japan, total amounts for released and transferred substances have tended to decrease. Hence, the system seems to be contributing to the reduction of environmental risks related to these chemical substances.
The following issues need to be considered when moving forward with this program : 1) how to develop/revise a method for estimating the chemical amounts that have not been reported by certain sectors, such as waste treatment facilities ; 2) how to properly promote alternatives to chemicals that can work as safe substitutes ; and 3) how consumers and waste industries can have access to information on these chemicals using PRTR data.

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In Japan, released amounts of certain chemical substances from sewage treatment facilities are reported and totaled while other chemicals are not reported or known. For this reason, a working group of the Ministry of the Environment has estimated the amounts for those non-reported substances. The total amounts for chemical inflow to sewage treatment facilities are estimated based on the “transfer to sewage system,” reported within PRTR system and the chemical amount calculated for domestic wastewater and road runoff. The total amount is then multiplied by the transfer coefficients to environmental media obtained mainly from measured data in order to estimate the amounts of chemical substances released into the environment through effluents, etc. Because the results contain certain estimates based on limited data, such as the concentration in road runoff and the biodegradability within sewage treatment facilities, it is still necessary to gather more data and improve the accuracy for these estimations.

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Under the legalities of the Japanese PRTR system, only a small part of the chemical substances released from waste disposal facilities is being reported. In an effort to change this, over the past several years, the government has been making efforts to estimate such releases. As a result, it was decided that the amounts being released should be estimated and publicly published as a first step in putting limits on municipal waste disposal facilities (incineration). Estimates revealed 17 chemical substances, including lead, nickel, acetaldehyde, etc., and the estimated amounts for 2011 fiscal year were approximately 160 tons mainly being released into the air. However, since reliability questions for these estimates still remain it is necessary to continue data gathering and reviews. It is also desirable that industrial waste disposal facilities be added to the release sources through collection of reliable measured data and estimation of released amounts.

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There is a need for the continuous development of emission and release inventories for toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and cadmium towards appropriate management of such toxic metals. This article discusses the possibility of utilizing data reported by the Japanese Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) system for developing inventories of emissions and releases of toxic metals. The PRTR system is an inventory system of chemical substances emissions and releases, in which the amount of substances being emitted, released and transferred in waste are reported annually by business operators. The reported data of toxic metal emissions and releases by the PRTR system can largely fluctuate depending on the status of reporting by major facilities and changes in the number of reported facilities. Thus, the data reported in the PRTR system can be underestimated as actual emissions and releases. The reported data also has different characteristics depending on the employed calculation methods, especially with regard to the inclusion of emissions and releases from impurities in raw materials or products. These issues need to be considered when utilizing data reported by the PRTR system for developing the inventories of toxic metals emissions and releases.

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With regard to suspension of water intake in the Tone River System due to formaldehyde contamination in May 2012, it is presumed that contained in Industrial Waste the causative agent hexamethylenetetramine are not being fully treated by industrial waste processing industries discharging into public water areas where formaldehyde is being generated through chlorine treatment at water purification plants. The Ministry of the Environment has established an Investigative Commission on Future Measures regarding the Suspension of Water Intake in the Tone River System, which conducted studies from June to August 2012 and presented its Interim Report in August. Along with adding hexamethylenetetramine as a substance designated under the Water Pollution Control Act, the report also informed local governments regarding points of concern for industries dealing with industrial waste containing hexamethylenetetramine. There are currently future plans to take forward discussions on the management of emissions being discharged into public water works, including materials other than hexamethylenetetramine, as well as investigations into the most viable methods of treatment for industrial wastes.

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