The Lower House unanimously enacted legislation on industrial waste disposal June 10 that will hold prefectural governors responsible for building industrial waste disposal centers.

Under the revised Waste Disposal Law, a person found guilty of unlawfully dumping industrial waste can be fined up to 100 million yen. The maximum penalty is 1 million yen under the existing law. The revised law will go into effect in six months and will change procedures for the construction of industrial waste plants. Builders will be required to conduct prior environmental assessments of the vicinity, and the governor will be obligated to make the result of the assessment public.