After the establishment of the legal system and related policies for the implementation of the Minamata Convention, such as the Act on Preventing Environmental Pollution of Mercury and the amended Air Pollution Control Act, Japan accepted the convention, which covers the entire lifecycle of mercury, on 2nd February 2016. The legal parameters of the Convention would reduce both emissions to the air and the demand for mercury, which contributes to the overall supply-demand balance. In order to promote proper management of mercury in the future, it is essential to continuously update the mercury material flow.
　With the Minamata Convention on Mercury about to enter into force in the near future, various efforts are being undertaken to address mercury management on a global scale. Japan’s historical experience with the serious environmental and health effects of mercury, i.e. Minamata Disease, will play an important role in contributing to its effective management. In addition to proper enforcement of laws and related policies, Japan is expected to contributing to negotiate at future meetings of the Conference of the Parties and by supporting implementation of the Convention in developing countries.

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In accord with the adoption of the Minamata Convention on Mercury at a Diplomatic Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries) held in Kumamoto, Japan in October 2013, Japan promulgated the Act on Preventing Environmental Pollution of Mercury in June 2015. Japan also took other necessary steps toward national implementation of the Convention. This paper describes how Japan’s focus will mainly be on upstream control of mercury-added products, which is equal in importance to downstream regulations on mercury wastes. These upstream control measures would include regulations on production, the import and export of specified mercury-added products, etc., and a ban on certain production processes where mercury or mercury compounds are being used. There is also a plan for publication of labeling guidelines for industries handling mercury-added products.

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In response to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was adopted in October 2013 to promote environmentally sound management of mercury waste, the Ministry of the Environment Japan has prepared Case Studies introducing separate collection by municipalities for waste mercury-added products discharged from households. The Ministry also developed a set of Guidelines that advocate for separate collection of waste mercury-added products in December 2015. In addition, a short video was created to illustrate the Guidelines in a more visual way and three seminars were held in order to disseminate such materials to local governments.

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Nomura Kohsan is a mercury recycling company that has been treating and processing various types of mercury wastes since its establishment in 1973. Each year, Nomura Kohsan treats a total of 27,000 tons of mercury waste and recovers over 50 tons of mercury from mercury waste. As a result of ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, it is expected that the demand for mercury will decrease and there will be a surplus of mercury throughout the world. With this as the backdrop, finding a long-term solution for the safe storage of mercury has become an important subject for research and development in the field of mercury management. Concerned countries, including Japan, are currently examining several disposal methods, including long-term storage and disposal.
　Nomura Kohsan is working on the development of a technology that can stabilize mercury using sulfur powder to form mercury sulfide; solidifying the mercury sulfide with modified sulfur. This paper is an overview of the mercury waste treatment business undertaken by Nomura Kohsan, it also introduces the Company’s mercury stabilization and solidification technology for long-term storage and disposal.

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In order to secure long-term environmental safety with regard to Mercury or Mercury compounds, appropriate systems for final disposal of mercury waste is requisite. Mercury-containing waste must be chemically stabilized and physically solidified to reduce environmental risk. In order to carry out appropriate final disposal with a high-shielding structure and sustainable disposal capacity, not only the isolated landfills but also the leachate-controlled landfills are considered to be possible candidates for site disposal. Reasonable and socially acceptable management of mercury-contaminated waste can be achieved by determining certain criteria regarding the definition of waste and the threshold levels required to extract Mercury. Pollution caused by mercury-containing waste must be prevented through intensive recovery of such materials from households and markets, along with prohibition of disposal into non-leachate controlled type landfills. There have been concerns that the risk of Mercury would increase with the conversion to alkylate form under landfill conditions, however, appropriate emission controls with landfill management can achieve long-term safety of mercury disposal. It is technically possible to delay Mercury migration for thousands of years, whereas the implementation of a multi-barrier approach utilizing the natural geological barrier is essential to safety control of mercury waste disposal taking into consideration the lifetime of artificially constructed facilities.

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The Air Pollution Control Act designated mercury as a possibly toxic air pollutant, but did not set emission standards. Recently, measures to control emissions from sources listed in Annex D of the Minamata Convention on Mercury have been discussed. Emission standards based on BAT/BEP have been created in an amendment to the Air Pollution Control Act. It is reasonable to think that emission standards should be for average concentrations in a normal period since mercury concentration in flue gas will fluctuate. For waste incineration facilities, two categories are set: emission standards for incineration facilities treating mercury containing waste are set at 50 μg/Nm³ for newly constructed plants and 100 μg/Nm³ for existing plants. Emission standards for other waste incineration facilities, however, are set at 30 μg/Nm³ for newly constructed plants and 50 μg/Nm³ for existing plants. In the amendment, mercury contained in particles within the flue gas must be measured in addition to gaseous mercury. When mercury concentration exceeds the emission standard once, compliance with emission standards will be judged based on an average of multiple measurements.

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