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Global Appeal to Stop Japanese Funding and Construction of Broga Incinerator in Malaysia

His Excellency Junichiro Koizumi Prime Minister Government of Japan Dear Prime Minister Koizumi, GLOBAL APPEAL TO STOP JAPANESE FUNDING AND CONSTRUCTION OF BROGA INCINERATOR IN MALAYSIA As members of the global community, we write to you, Mr. Prime Minister, to put across our strong disapproval for the use of Japanese yen loans, grants, export subsidies and guarantees to promote and/or fund the export of Japanese incinerators to countries in Asia and elsewhere. Incineration-focused “solutions,” from our standpoint, will only put the lives of citizens and their communities at risk instead of helping them prevent and reduce waste, scale up recycling, generate jobs and work towards Zero Waste. Of particular concern to us is the suspected plan to use Japanese taxpayers’ money for building a gigantic 1,500 tonne/day incinerator for municipal solid waste in Broga, Selangor, Malaysia - a hilly, forested zone and a water catchment area supplying drinking water to over 333 residential housing estates of about 2 million people. We are appalled that a monstrous waste burner will be constructed in an environmentally-sensitive area despite objection and protest from concerned citizens. This, we hope, is not the kind of development cooperation that Japan would want to subscribe to and promote to its neighbors. Ebara Corporation holds the contract to design and construct the gasification-type incinerator that is disturbingly on a pilot stage in Japan and in much smaller capacities. Concerned community members and civil society groups are opposed to the plan because it employs unverified technology to be built by a controversy-ridden firm, it contravenes laws and polices, and imperils the society with enormous environmental, health, safety and financial costs. The high disapproval of 85 per cent among residents should compel your government to critically review any Japanese financing of this controversial project. Japan should be sensitive to the sentiments of affected communities and should not be seen as imposing a project that is not welcomed by the local people. We find it exceedingly outrageous that Japanese companies, with backing from the government, are seeking new markets outside Japan for their incinerators, deceivingly selling them as “sustainable” and “environment-friendly” solutions for handling waste. Incinerators, including those depicted as “state-of-the-art,” endanger public health and the environment with toxic emissions, destroy huge quantities of valuable resources, burden importing countries with unbearable debts, weaken recycling, hinder job creation and community development and concentrate financial gains in the hands of big businesses. Government promotion and funding of Japanese incinerator projects abroad is a blatant disrespect to the ongoing efforts by the global community to reduce and eliminate releases of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the environment. The Stockholm Convention on POPs, which Japan has already ratified, calls for the "minimization with the ultimate goal of elimination" of 12 priority POPs, four of which are by-products of waste combustion: dioxins, furans, hexachlorobenzene and polychlorinated biphenyls. The Convention further calls for the use of substitute processes to prevent the formation and release of these byproduct POPs. Constructing new incinerators in Japan or offshore is akin to creating new sources of POPs and thus violates the spirit and purpose of the Convention, denying the people their right to a healthy environment and a sustainable future. We urge you, Mr. Prime Minister, to ensure that any Japan-assisted projects overseas observe the fundamental principle of the “community right to know.” As the world’s top donor of ODA, we urge you to guarantee that affected communities and population groups are fully informed and consulted. We particularly would like to see national governments entering into a free and open dialogue with the civil society and giving stakeholders full access to information on projects that will affect their health, livelihood and future. As to the proposed Broga incinerator, we urge you to ensure that the voices of concerned communities are duly listened to and respected by decision makers in both Japan and Malaysia. We call upon you, Mr. Prime Minister, to act upon our demands: 1. That the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Japan International Cooperation Agency and other related offices stop promoting and funding the construction of waste incinerators in Asia and the Pacific and the rest of the world. 2. That Japanese incinerator companies desist from exporting their harmful and unsustainable products. 3. That Japan withdraws any funding commitment for the Broga incinerator project in Malaysia in view of the broad citizens’ opposition.
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CC: IN JAPAN Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Economy and Industries, Nippon Keidanren, Democratic Party, Komei, Social Democratic Party, Japan Communist Party, Midorinokaigi IN MALAYSIA Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Ministry of Finance , Office of the Chief Minister of Selangor, Director General of the Department of Environment, Director General of the Department of Local Government, Director General of the Economic Planning Unit, Embassy of Japan

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