Industrial waste companies should be taxed at the local level as a way to curb unlawful dumping, an Environment Ministry panel recommended Wednesday.
A panel report says the tax, varieties of which have recently been introduced or considered by a growing number of local governments, would be a more effective way to reduce dumping than blocking the inflow of industrial waste across local government borders — a method adopted by 35 prefectures.
Numerous local governments are facing problems with unlawful dumping.
The panel on government policies on industrial waste believes the tax would be effective because it would foster conscientious industrial waste disposal companies and be used to build industrial waste disposal sites, thereby reducing the chances of illegal dumping.
The national government should consider a tax on industrial waste companies if many local governments adopt the tax, the report says. The ministry said it is willing to make it a national tax in the future.
"If many local governments introduce the tax, it would be necessary to make a national tax, or centralized collection of it for distribution among local governments, to coordinate the tax rates," a ministry official said.