A garbage-disposal association will soon ask the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to order residents of Hinodemachi, western Tokyo, to vacate land slated to be the site of an expanded dump, a source close to the association said Monday.
The metropolitan government may execute the order this fall after receiving a request from the association. It would be the first time for a local government to expropriate land for waste-disposal facilities in Japan.
The Futatsuzuka waste-disposal site, a publicly owned dump, plans to expand its facilities because it will soon become impossible to keep up with the increasing amount of household garbage it handles.
About 2,800 residents oppose the expansion and have built protest structures, including a makeshift stage and tower, along with picketing the site. The residents claim environmental damage such as water pollution will result if the dump is allowed to grow. They have refused to abandon the 460-sq.-meter planned expansion site, which they jointly owned.
Ownership of the land was transferred to the association in March after a metro government committee decided to expropriate the land following its receipt of an appeal from the association in 1996.
The metro government will send a warning to the residents to dismantle their structures and keep off the land. It will then issue an eviction order if they do not abandon the land.