The Tsuruga Municipal Government in Fukui Prefecture is up to its neck in garbage.

A garbage dump abandoned by Kinki Clean Center when it went bankrupt in 2002 took in 13 times more industrial waste and household garbage from 60 municipalities and waste management firms than was permitted for the size of the site and the Tsuruga and Fukui governments are having trouble getting all of them to help pay the estimated 10.2 billion yen bill to clean it up.

The garbage-disposal firm, which had refused inspections, failed in 2002.

The same year, Fukui and Tsuruga covered the site, which has 1.19 cu. meters of household and industrial waste, with earth as a short-term measure.